Gårdsbaserad biogas – samarbeten & kontextens betydelse

Abstract: The fact that different countries choose to invest in increased production of renewable energy is a continuous trend. This may be a consequence of rising fossil fuel prices, while technological advances has made this production more profitable than before. The Swedish government has also made efforts to strengthen domestic of these energy sources. Part of this effort is to increase the production of biogas. Currently there are about 280 biogas plants I Sweden, of which about 40 is based on agriculture farms. Researchers argue that collaboration is an important part of a farm-based production of biogas. This study aims at identifying collaborations which make it possible to develop farm-based biogas production, and how the context affects the development of these collaborations. Through the interviews with a company in Målilla, a deeper understanding of what these companies choose to collaborate and what impact the context has on the development of collaborations is created. An inductive research effort allows for this deeper understanding. By utilizing existing theories of collaboration and context, an analysis of the empirical material has given the authors a deeper understanding of these collaborations and the influence of the context on their development. In general, the company choose to collaborate on areas where the company can not solve problem on its own. In this case, this includes substrate, investment, expertise, design, service, sales and infrastructure. It can be seen that the surrounding context has influenced the development in different extend. The main impact is from the spatial context, but it is also evident that the social and the institutional context also influenced the development of these collaborations.