The more the better? : Investigating performance of the Danish and Swedish offshore wind farm cluster

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a combined social constructivist, internal and external conceptualisation of the process of realising offshore wind farms, and to investigate costs, time, delays and operational performance results of offshore wind farm power plant projects in Denmark and Sweden with a view to possible strategic misrepresentation. Design/methodology/approach – Desk study of a sample of seven Danish and Swedish offshore wind farms using triangulation of publicly available material. Findings – Some of the wind farm projects are successful and some less successful. In the latter group, budget and time overruns and under-performance are found. The paper discusses specific elements of possible strategic misrepresentation but finds a contradictory pattern. Also competences developed on the basis of experience do not produce clear results, since more recent wind farm performance is poorer than earlier. Research limitations/implications – If desk research were combined with other methods, it would be possible to detect projects ' internal phenomena better. Practical implications – There is a need to improve the efficiency of the wind farm building process and to improve the quality of offshore wind turbines, their foundations and cabling. Originality/value – Renewable energy power plants comprise an important societal investment, yet their costs and possible cost reductions are poorly understood.