The Issue of Trust in Swedish Wind Power Planning : A case study of the wind power project in Markbygden, Sweden

Sammanfattning: Sweden has decided that by the year of 2020, 30 TWh of energy should come from wind power turbines. The wind power developer Svevind AB is planning to build Europe’s largest wind power park in the area of Markbygden in the municipality of Piteå. Thus, the wind power park will be the largest in Swedish history and will bring with it technical and strategic challenges. The main aim for this thesis is to analyze how different factors affect the level of trust in a wind power planning project and doing so through targeting three focus areas; legislation, communication and agreements. The study is based upon case study methodology and where interviews, document studies, literature studies and a media review is used as methods. The theoretical framework is built around communication, power and the privatization of planning. The case study investigates two parallel processes that the planned wind power park in Markbygden has undertaken and what actors that has been most active. The conclusions that can be drawn from the study are that the trust between actors is built up around strategic choices and strategic actions. The means that it can be distinguished distrust towards the purpose behind the actor’s choice of communication and action. Further, the current legislation together with the more and more privatized spatial planning, are two major causes to the that it is increasingly hard to determine who that actually is in charge of planning. This may in turn lead to a lack of trust and understanding towards planning.