The Efficiency of Offshore Wind Energy Companies in the European Countries: A DEA Approach

Abstract

Considering environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels, one of the possible solutions is the use of renewable energy sources. Wind energy is one of the most competitive and resilient energy sources in the world, which can play an important role in accelerating the global transition to green energy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the allocative efficiency of 47 offshore wind energy companies in 9 European countries using the input-oriented BCC DEA model. The basic hypothesis is that by evaluating the relative efficiency of offshore wind energy companies in European countries, it is possible to determine a correlation between the results of efficiency between the two observed periods with slight deviations. The empirical results show no significant correlation between the score of relative efficiency and the country where the offshore wind energy company is located. On the other hand, the results are consistent with the basic hypothesis of this study. From the management perspective, significant improvements in all financial variables, i.e., tangible fixed assets, cash and cash equivalents, and current assets, are required to achieve relative efficiency. The model variables refer to the economic characteristics of offshore wind energy companies, indicating that only allocative efficiency was analysed, which is in contrast to previous studies.