Miljöbelastning för vindkraft vid implementering av ny drivlineteknik

Sammanfattning

With the global incentive to phase out fossil fuels, wind energy is projected to become one of the largest energy sources in the future both in Sweden and Europe. New technology in wind energy will be key in meeting the future electricity demand with the lowest possible climate impact. One of these advancements is being developed by a company with a new drive train technology in wind turbines which increases the efficiency while requiring less material resources in the generator compared to a conventional wind turbine. In this report, the decrease in environmental impact with the implementation of the company's technology is calculated and simulated for future scenarios in both Sweden and Europe. This is achieved using a mathematical model and implementing a projection of future wind energy production, until the years 2040 for Sweden and 2050 for Europe, as well as the current material usage and carbon emissions of wind turbines. As a result, simulations were created for the decrease in resource usage of different metals and decrease in carbon emissions. With an increase in efficiency of 3 %, the calculated decrease in carbon emissions in Sweden and Europe were approximately 2,2 and 2,4 g CO2/kWh respectively. These decreases are mainly due to the reduction in material usage and the emissions associated with the extraction of these and only marginally a result of the direct increase in efficiency. It is important to acknowledge that the model is largely dependent on many different generalizations and assumptions of future developments which can cause errors and uncertainties in the results. This study does, however, provide a general quantitative analysis of the impact of efficiency and subsequent material usage in wind turbines.