Towards a strategy for offshore wind power in Sweden

Book chapter, 2014

The first offshore wind power farm was built in 1991 (in Denmark) but the diffusion of wind turbines took place mainly onshore.1 By 2013, European offshore turbines supplied 24 TWh but there are expectations of a supply of 140 TWh by 2020.2 For 2030, UK and Germany expect the supply to increase to about 115 and 87 TWh respectively.3 The longer term potential is much larger and in the European Commission’s Vision 2050 scenario analysis, 800 TWh are supplied (see Chapter 3 on the global potential).4 Hence, offshore wind power is seen as a strategic technology in EU’s efforts to decarbonise electricity generation. Multifaceted government policies are applied in mainly UK, Germany and Denmark to support development and deployment of offshore wind power, that is, interventions are not limited to forming a market but include other dimensions in the industrialisation of the technology. Expectations of an extensive deployment are shared by many firms in the value chain, including component suppliers, turbine manufacturers, utilities, harbours, shipyards and logistics firms. A whole industrial system has begun to develop in northern Europe. In this chapter, we argue that Sweden should shift from a passive to an active stance towards offshore wind power and initiate a process that eventually leads to a large-scale deployment. In the next section, we argue that offshore wind power is a desirable technology to develop in Sweden and we suggest a target for Sweden in 2030. This is followed by an analysis of mechanisms that may obstruct meeting that target and points to ways of overcoming these. In the final section, we discuss how a strategy for Sweden could be formed.