Innovation opportunities for onshore wind in Sweden

Sammanfattning

Background: The onshore wind industry is constantly pushing the boundaries to offer lower energy costs both to motivate investments into more parks and as an integral part of the European climate ambitions. Innovation and engineering resources have to be carefully managed to deliver value to the end customers, but IPPs (Individual Power Producers) have limited resources and influence to drive innovation. Purpose: Identify what drives IPP purchasing processes, what features are valued, and what innovation gaps are missed, to make it easier for innovators to fill these gaps and make Sweden more competitive in the onshore wind industry. Method: Semi-structured interviews with representatives of active IPPs and specifically people in positions purchasing and evaluating different wind turbine alternatives. Results and analysis: A map of what five IPPs describe as their purchasing process, underlying motivations and identified innovation gaps based on the IPP perspective. Conclusions: The Swedish onshore wind power market is mature with high competition between IPPs. Together with low state support and considerable associated risk, innovation is left by the wayside or to be picked up by equipment manufacturers. Suggestions are given as how to optimise bidding design, as well as highlights innovation gaps in both technology, strategy and policy. Recommendations for future research: A systematic follow up on the effects of bidding design elements on levelized cost of energy and innovation trends could yield deeper insight into the effects of the considerations described in this study.