Market Studies
OWC has a dedicated and experienced market studies team that focuses on early-market studies, including site identification and characterisation, market regulations, supply chain studies and route-to-market strategy.
OWC’s market studies team works with a variety of offshore wind stakeholders, from developers to research institutes, management consultancy firms, banks and insurers, and even in advising government and regional administrative bodies.
We have been commissioned to provide market studies for the development of fixed and floating offshore wind markets worldwide, including in the USA, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, UK, Italy, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan, Laos, Vietnam, as well as to conduct global studies.
Our projects can cover a wide range of topic areas, either individually or as a package, depending on the client and market in question. Ranging from in-depth studies into grid transmission to supply chain analysis, O&M strategies and OPEX analysis to technology and component evaluations for a given market or site.
Global Offshore Wind Market Activity
Which are the hot countries versus the cold?
Market challenges
Absence or limitations of local regulation.
Supply & demand pressures from competing countries.
Transmission points and pressure on existing grid infrastructure.
Supply chain competition pushing up costs.
Optimised O&M strategies for long-term bankability of a site.
“Offshore wind has become a global opportunity and it is rapidly expanding to new and vastly different markets. We help clients screen and prioritize markets, identify viable offshore wind sites, and understand the regulatory pathway to securing site and the economic route-to-market.”
Craig Brown, Principal Consultant and Market Studies Lead
As offshore wind development accelerates across the world and increasingly new markets enter the ‘offshore wind’ race, pressure builds on the value chain, with costly impacts on the end result. Demand on supply chain, ports and harbours, grid transmission, local regulation, component manufacturing, and a skilled workforce to name a few, are all critical challenges to consider in initial site selection.
Our Solutions
OWC combines practical experience across more than 300 offshore wind projects, with multi-disciplined engineering to provide an intuitive process that supports all types of clients in defining their successful route to market.
Market Screening
OWC works with global clients to evaluate, screen, and identify viable markets for offshore wind deployment. We base market screening and evaluation on customised criteria for each client’s preferences, risk appetite, and necessary site conditions for offshore wind technologies. Our market screening and identification process provides a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of:
- Resource potential and energy yield
- Power market fundamentals
- Existing infrastructure
- Cost-competitiveness of offshore wind
- Power market structure
- Seabed leasing and offshore tendering
- Policy and regulations
- Route-to-market for power sales
Site identification and characterisation
OWC’s GIS specialists and multi-discipline engineers identify viable sites for offshore wind developments globally. We then assess the physical characteristics of the sites and advise on the engineering and cost of energy implications. Our team has crafted an effective and efficient site identification and characterisation process. We integrate clients into the process of deciding site selection criteria, assessing risk appetite, deciding the minimum capacity of wind farms, scoring hard and soft constraints, and ranking sites based on custom criteria. For site ID and characterization studies, we routinely provide our clients with the following:
- Resource mapping (wind and bathymetry)
- Constraints layering (environmental and social, infrastructure, shipping density, etc.)
- Defining viable areas of interest
- Infrastructure requirements
- Transmission design
- Grid connection requirements
- Supply chain and logistics studies
- Geotechnical conditions
- Seafloor morphology
- Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE)
Regulatory and Lease Auction Support
OWC’s global network of offices helps us provide detailed market insight from our local teams. We advise clients in pre-seabed lease / pre-auction markets and can help navigate the local requirements and procedures for early-stage offshore energy development. This includes an assessment of key requirements for:
- Seabed leasing
- Site control
- Concessions
- Permits
- Authorizations
- Filing
Route-to-market Strategy
We assess the regulatory requirements, economic and financial opportunities and risks to selling power or power-to-x opportunities in different market structures. We can offer our clients our knowledge and analysis, such as:
- Market structure
- Power sales regulations and requirements
- Power generation mix
- Power prices
- Subsidies
- Competitive cost of energy assessment
The value we bring
Practical experience in offshore wind markets around the world.
Drawing on multi-disciplined engineering expertise and specialised knowledge in all critical components: cables, transmission, foundations, WTGs.
Combined with marine & port infrastructure advisory expertise from our parent company, ABL Group.
Proven track record in support auction success with experience across >50 projects globally.
Questions? Get in touch
Related Services
Technical Studies
Cable Consultancy and Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Wind Measurement and Metocean Advisory
WTG Engineering
Fixed & Floating Foundation Engineering & Design
Integrated Loads Analysis & Foundation Design
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