Why Offshore Wind Is Stumbling and What Can be Done

For decades, wind power’s skeptics dismissed it as an unworkable technology that would never survive without state subsidies. Its backers proved them wrong by developing giant offshore turbines so efficient that they could compete with fossil fuels on their own terms. Wind farms sprung up in Europe, China and the US as governments chased emissions-reduction targets. Then a series of setbacks — some self-inflicted, others not — tipped an industry that’s critical to the world’s decarbonization goals into a crisis.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the global economy and trade, pushing up the cost of pretty much everything, including commodities, labor and borrowing. Most companies could offset those cost increases by raising prices. But a lot of wind developments are locked into contracts to sell power at rates set years ago. So their owners can’t adjust the price of the power they’ll sell when the projects go online. For some developers, the numbers no longer add up and they’re walking away.