Lantbrukaren som energiproducent : en fallstudie i energisatsningar inom lantbruket

Abstract: The intrest and development of bioenergy and energy from renewable sources in Sweden has increased rapidly over the last few years. There are a whole lot of alternatives for those who would like to venture and invest in renewable energy production. Production of renewable energy opens up many opportunities for forestry and farming to venture a new branch of production, on basis of the primary production. Several of the new energy sources grows on farmland or in the forest. The opportunities exist in the primary products, as well as in refining and reselling, in the value chain of energy. The starting-point is the Farmer as an energyproducer. This master thesis studies the nature of farmer-own firms, who has invested in production of renewable energy. By using the methodology of case studies, six companies are observed. The firms consists of two wind-power firms, three district heating companies, two stoked with wood-chips and one with straw-bales. The last firm is one with small scale district heating stoked with grains. The analysis of the firms is made out of the perspective of the Resourced-based theory. This is to, identify a diverse number of key properties to success within venture and investment in energy production from renewable sources. The nature of these firms, possess a number of resources, resource-position barriers and capabilities, which sustains competitive advantage and profitability over time. In wind-power investments, the location is a crucial factor to reach success. From a farmers perspective, the wind-power investment can give a good spread of risk in the exicisting firm and an almost work-free source of income. Production of energy for district heating demands longterm contracs with the buyers, that includes a price-regulation which reflects the production costs. When the culvert is owned by the firm itself, it provides a good control of the entire value chain of the energy. This gives the possibility to develop the company in its own pace. No matter how many shareholders the firm consists of, there is always one or some key-persons who are very important. The firms reputation is at the same time a factor that might have great importance for the success of the firm. From an economic view, there is a good potential in these firms to generate a profitability on total assets of 5-8 % and during real good conditions up to 20 %. This is however, very much depending on the supply of cheap fuels and a price-regulation that follows the market.