The strong growth realized in recent years by the offshore wind power industry is being challenged by significant cost increases. The current global economic environment, suffering from relatively high inflation and supply-chain disruptions, has led to meaningful cost escalations for many industries, including offshore wind. Such large cost increases resulting from global macroeconomic shocks are difficult to forecast, especially so for offshore wind power projects, which could take nearly a decade to complete given the lengthy process for development, design and construction.

Swedish energy company Vattenfall AB announced July 20 that it would stop development of its British Norfolk Boreas offshore wind power project as a result of rising costs, and it suggested that other companies’ U.K. offshore wind power projects may face similar problems. The 1.4-gigawatt Norfolk Boreas project was expected to start producing electricity in the late 2020s and was part of Britain’s p