Shortening Lead Times at Svenska Kraftnät : A systems thinking approach

Sammanfattning

Sweden’s accelerating energy transition has created an urgent need for faster expansion of the national transmission grid. Yet major transmission projects at Svenska Kraftnät often exceed a decade from initiation to commissioning, constraining the pace of electrification and regional development. This thesis investigates systemic drivers of long lead times and develops a structured strategy for reduction by combining Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and the Viable System Model (VSM). SSM is used to analyse the problem situation across internal functions and external stakeholders within a highly regulated infrastructure context. The analysis identifies interdependent delay mechanisms, including sequential and fragmented workflows, early and recurring information gaps, weak interface management with key authorities, slow escalation and feedback loops, and a risk-averse culture shaped by high requirements for legal robustness. These insights are used to assess where change is both desirable from a whole-system perspective and feasible within current institutional constraints. VSM complements this analysis by examining the organisation’s capacity to coordinate and adapt under complexity. The findings point to weaknesses in coordination and horizontal communication, limited integration between operational work and strategic oversight, and insufficiently institutionalised learning. These shortcomings contribute to repeated inefficiencies and limited scaling of pilot practices. Based on the combined insights, the thesis proposes thirteen prioritised actions spanning the project lifecycle, including earlier structured stakeholder engagement, increased parallelisation of permitting and design, strengthened knowledge transfer and learning, improved digital support for planning and follow-up, and targeted regulatory adjustments. The findings suggest that lead-time reductions are plausible if internal coordination is strengthened, learning is institutionalised, and a more adaptive, system-wide approach to project delivery is adopted.