TEXT & PHOTO: ANDERS WESTERGREN

BACK IN 2016, after almost 20 years of research, administration and dialogue with local interests, the time had come – to press play! In total, 1101* comprises about 450 square kilometres of subarctic environment with pine trees as the dominant flora, followed by mainly spruce and birch.

Since the area has been home to different people and cultures for thousands of years, the archaeological survey is one of the first steps in the building process. This is a tough task, all done on foot. The archaeologists use, among other tools, a metal probe to penetrate the soil when they find something of interest. Each ground layer then helps to understand what happened at that particular spot.

Next up is the geotechnical part. We use specialist drilling rigs, built up on forestry machines, to check the ground fixity. The drills are operated by remote control and can handle quite rough terrain. After finding a level of solid rock by drilling, the machine repeatedly hammers a rod into the bottom of the hole, to measure the resistance. This data is critical in determining where to place the turbines’ foundations.

ABOVE: ABOVE: A forestry machine collects pine logs after ground preparation work in Phase 3.

ONCE WE HAVE the whole picture concerning archaeological and geotechnical results, the actual building process starts. The local forestry companies are consulted about making space for turbine foundations, powerlines, roads and other necessary infrastructure. 1101* will contain a road network totalling around 700 km that can handle the stress of heavy goods vehicles.

In this step we start with a marking out process (also done on foot), which sets the parameters for the actual harvest. Since the forest industry is an important part of the economy in the region, the level of knowledge and services is always modern and high quality. The timber from 1101* is turned into wood products and pulp at the local sawmills and paper mills.

Overall, the wind farm and the forest industry make a good combination – providing society with both renewable energy and renewable wood raw material from the same area. 90% of the land in 1101* is not limited in terms of forest regeneration.

AFTER the ground surveys and preparation, the journey towards a complete wind farm continues in several steps. The infrastructure is put in place by various companies and specialists, mainly from the region. The road building alone in Phase 1 of 1101* was a 100 million dollar project.

Another certainly important element is the energy distribution. This ranges from connecting up each turbine to establishing overhead lines and finally making the connection to the Swedish national 400 kV grid. Of the four main powerlines connecting the hydroelectric arena in the north of Sweden with the big cities in the south, two pass through the 1101* site.

The transformation of electricity between the 1101* turbines and the grid is quite a story itself. This task is handled by two transformer stations placed in the north-west and south-east corner of the wind farm. One single transformation unit can weigh about 400 metric tons, dry weight (no oil included). These arrive by boat at the port in Piteå and are then transported by specially built trucks to their final destinations. One of those events is known to be the heaviest transport by road ever to occur in Sweden.

To withstand the stress of strong winds and heavy components, each turbine is anchored with an impressive foundation. This contains approximately 65 tons of steel and another 1500 tons of concrete. Although this is a huge amount of material, the developers and engineers have found new ways of decreasing those numbers, without losing durability. In other words; their precursors as recently as 2015-2016 were even bigger.

All the turbine components are also brought from the manufacturer to Piteå by boat and are then transported on trailers to site. This is of course the biggest logistical puzzle in the development of 1101*. A wing can measure approximately 70-80 metres, which means it takes up a whole trailer on its own. Once all the parts are delivered, the assembly team waits for the right weather conditions, and then the lifting operation begins. Today we are building turbines with a height of 135 metres to the centre hub, and 200 metres to the blade tip at “twelve o’clock”.