The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) has launched £4.2m (€4.87m) in grant funding and tailored business support for UK offshore wind supply chain companies
The package includes a £3.5m Development Grant Funding Competition for transformative supply chain projects and a £700K Wind Expert Support Toolkit (WEST) programme for needs-focused expert business support.
The grants of between £100K and £1m are available for capital and operational expenditure on projects that will unlock significant growth potential in UK content, jobs and export opportunities.
This latest and largest call builds on the £2.5m of grant funding already allocated to successful companies in the last 18 months.
Development grants are available to UK companies and will be awarded on a competitive basis, with successful proposals demonstrating a long-term business plan and a clear ambition for growth in the sector.
Eligible applicants can request up to £1m in a single grant application to cover up to 50% of the total project budget.
To date, OWGP has awarded funding to over 20 offshore wind supply chain projects, including the development of innovative robotic solutions for welding and component assembly, machine learning solutions to enhance wind farm accessibility and O&M decision making, and virtual reality simulation training for offshore wind workers.
Furthermore, building on the success of the Wind Expert Support Toolkit pilot programme that supported 32 companies in 2020-21, OWGP is now accepting applications for the refreshed WEST Programme.
The 2021 WEST programme will offer £700k of needs-focused support to over 60 new and existing offshore wind supply chain companies.
OWGP is working with an established framework of expert delivery partners to provide bespoke support such as targeted specialist advice, market intelligence and business planning to accelerate the growth of UK companies in the offshore wind sector.
The OWGP plays a key role in the delivery of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal and is funded by members of the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) with a budget of £100m over ten years.
Delivered by ORE Catapult, the programme supports the growth of UK businesses looking to capitalise on the huge opportunities offered by the global offshore wind sector.
Offshore Wind Industry co-chair and Vattenfall’s UK country manager Danielle Lane said: “The offshore wind industry is investing millions of pounds in developing a world-class supply chain so that innovative companies around the country can win contracts for goods and services here and abroad.
“The UK Government has recently published new proposals on offshore wind supply chain plans for the next CfD auction, which are challenging for project developers.
“Key initiatives, such as today’s announcement by the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, will help UK companies to join the growing number of UK firms entering our sector, maximising the economic benefits of offshore wind for this country.”
Over 750 companies have now registered an interest on the OWGP website, where further information on Grant Funding and Business Transformation programmes can be found.
For more information and to apply, visit the OWGP website at https://owgp.org.uk/