The purpose of this thesis is to explore disruptions Swedish wind turbines onshore are exposed to, and to estimate their economic impacts on the operators. We want to investigate whether there is a need for a more developed service and maintenance market within the Swedish wind power market.
This study focuses on wind power, a renewable energy source in an emerging market, which experiences exponential growth. Sweden is a minor actor in the wind power market with a production of around 2 TWh yearly. The government aims at a total production of 10TWh in 2015 and 20TWh in 2020, which equals an annual growth of 24%. However, we hypothesize that the Swedish wind power market is negatively affected by a service and maintenance market which is underdeveloped due to a lack of competition. This results in lengthy repair times and disproportionate costs for wind power operators.
The study was carried out by conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews and by sending out a survey to approximately 300 wind power operators. Six interviewees were wind power operators and one interviewee was a representative from an independent service supplier. We have also analysed the current cost situation of operators with theories about maintenance costs and we have also carried out an industry analysis on the service and maintenance market, which was based on Porter’s structural industry analysis.
After conducting a structural analysis of the service and maintenance market, we can conclude a lack of competition today as there is a dominance of the wind turbine manufacturers as the service supplier. Furthermore we can see that this lack of competition has negative effects on the efficiency of the service and maintenance provided. The results also stress a need for a more developed service and maintenance market. We have found that the profitability for the Swedish wind power operators is challenged if the service and maintenance market is not keeping pace and meeting the demands of the rapidly growing Swedish wind power market as a whole.