by someone
Fri Aug 11th, 2006 at 04:57:25 AM EST
Wind power in Swedish news. As part of the Swedish effort to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in Sweden, laws have been passed to promote renewable energy. This is leading to an increase in investments in wind power, and some problems for manufacturers to meet demand for new turbines. Investments are being made in large capacity wind parks by the large energy corporations, and a small electricity cooperative is proving popular with consumers.
From the front page - whataboutbob
From an article today in Dagens Nyheter:
Wind power demand exceeds supply. (in Swedish, my translation below)
Swedish wind power is taking off. Many electricity consumers are in line to buy shares in wind power and the large energy companies are investing billions [of Swedish Kroner] at a rate where manufacturers of wind equipment can't meet demand.
The record high electricity price in Sweden this summer has caused national debate. According to Per Ribbing, board member in the economic cooperative organisation Sveriges Vindkraftkooperativ, the best way to combat the rising electricity prices is to buy shares in wind generation.
"We are completely independent from the electricity market and the large electricity corporations. Our members own shares in the wind turbines and buy the electricity at production costs, at the same time as they help reducing global warming." Says Per Ribbing.
Right now 500 people are in line to buy shares in Sveriges Vindkraftkooperativ, and the three turbines owned by the organisations are not enough. A fourth turbine is planned.
"We could build three turbines right now, if only we had somewhere to build."
Wind power is also on the march amongst the large corporations. Vattenfall is building 48 turbines in Lillegrund, and an enormous wind park is planned in the Baltic Sea south of Trelleborg of between 100 and 150 turbines with a production capacity of 1.6 TWh/year
...
But manufacturers of wind turbines have not been able to increase production to meet demand.
And from a July 28 article in the same paper:
Expansion of wind power could be delayed several years.(In Swedish, my translation below)
In ten years electricity from wind power should increase tenfold. The [Swedish] government has decided that. But full order books at the turbine manufacturers and slow permit processes risk delaying the planned expansion.
...
Turbines and towers are lacking, delivery times are one to two years.
...
It took eight years the wind farm in Lillgrund to get final approval. To speed up the process the government appointed four wind power coordinators this spring.
...
"We hope the government is looking over the approval process. Today pretty much anyone who could possibly see one of the turbines could appeal the decisions. This causes the projects to be delayed several years." [says Gunnar Fredriksson, CEO of Vindkraftleverantörerna i Sverige (The wind power deliverers of Sweden), an organisation for wind power producing entities]
Sveriges Vindkraftkooperativ (page in Swedish only) sells shares for 5000SEK (544 Euro), which entitles the holder to 1000kWh delivery per year. The customer would have to sign a contract of delivery with a local electricity distributer, Falkenberg Energi AB, who delivers electricity to 13000 customers. The 500 customers in line for the cooperative are thus all local and it seems such cooperative schemes could be successful in other localities as well. The current electricity price for share holders is 0.57 SEK/kWh (0.062Euro). E.ON has its current electricity price in Sweden at 0.969 SEK/kWh (0.106 Euro). (Prices include all taxes and green energy tax bonuses)
And as a bonus, electricity prices form E.ON in Sweden since 1996:
