The offshore wind developments in the United Kingdom, with multiple projects in excess of 800MW being either built or planned—and a comprehensive support framework from the government, are positioning this technology to compete with today’s utility-scale coal and gas plants. Yet to become truly competitive (i.e., absent government support) with traditional electricity generation technologies, the development costs of offshore wind projects needs to decline by nearly 50 percent, from today’s £2.3 million/MW to around £1.3 million/MW.
Accenture believes such "megaprojects" will change offshore wind economics by pursuing scale efficiencies, implementing leading practices in development and operations and transforming the supply chain. Moreover, megaprojects will have significant and diverse effects, not only across the wind industry’s value chain, but also across the electricity and fuel value chains. This paper assesses and discusses the impacts of such megaprojects and their potential implications for the relevant players across the energy industry.