Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2006 (Revised November 2008)

Supergrid

by Richard H.K. Vietor

Abstract

Supergrid is a mammoth wind-power development scheme for Europe, recently proposed by Airtricity. This firm, founded in 1997, is a fast-growing power-development company focused on wind. Already having built about 600 megawatts of wind turbines in Scotland and Ireland, Airtricity has now expanded to the United States. But its "Supergrid" proposal, to build offshore wind turbines with capacity of 30,000 megawatts of power, would change the face of European energy networks, use new technology, and help several European countries meet their Kyoto targets for reducing CO2. The issues are whether a small company like Airtricity has the human and capital resources to pull this off, and whether the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, and the EU can be made to cooperate on such a project.

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Performance Capacity; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Europe; United States;

Format: Print 26 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Vietor, Richard H.K. "Supergrid." Harvard Business School Case 707-016, September 2006. (Revised November 2008.)

About the Author

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Richard H.K. Vietor
Baker Foundation Professor, Paul Whiton Cherington Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus
Business, Government and the International Economy

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