Criticism against the wind farm in Viksjö - "The project is about to crash!"

In an open letter, the Machine Contractors demand that everyone involved in the project get paid in full for the job done, otherwise the project risks failing.

- What happened in Viksjö is a sad example of how it should not go in a large project. Now it seems that the small companies in the area will have to pay the bill for the chaos in Viksjö, says Hampe Mobärg, a senior advisor in the industry organization.

It is only about six months since the German energy giant RWE and the big bank Credit Suisse started construction in Viksjö, but it has been more than six months with major problems. In October, construction was halted after the county administrative board discovered violations of the environmental regulations and since then the Swedish Work Environment Authority has also addressed serious deficiencies in the working environment in the area.

The construction stop in Viksjö still lasts and in recent months the construction in Viksjö has been characterized by chaos. The general contractor Nordex has ended up in disarray with its own main contractor Active Works on unpaid bills, and during this the payments to the subcontractors have been absent.

Active Works has recently filed for bankruptcy and is now undergoing a corporate restructuring with debts of just over 200 million to its subcontractors. As things stand right now, the corporate restructurer appointed by the district court believes that the best outcome will be a chord settlement of 25 percent. That is, Active Works can pay 25 percent of the debt.

- Yeah, it's too damn good. This means that it is the small companies, often family companies with small margins, who have to pay the bill for what has happened. They have worked in good faith and driven on because they have seen the worldwide financial house Credit Suisse and the energy giant RWE as well as their project company Nysäter Wind as guarantor for the project, so simple it is, says Mobärg to SVT Västernorrland.

In an open letter to the project owners, the Machine Contractors now write that the entire project is in danger zone. The small subcontractors will be needed in the area if the construction of roads and foundations for the wind turbines can be resumed.

- Credibility is already strained. If you want to regain confidence, you have to settle as quickly as possible otherwise it will be difficult to recruit machine contractors who want to take the risk of working in Viksjö, says Mobärg.

The wind farm in Viksjö is thought to consist of 114 wind turbines at a cost of 5.5 billion. The machine contractors are of the opinion that from the start the project was characterized by "enormous deficiencies" in planning, planning and management.