According to The Crown Estate, the funding will help kick-start projects drawing down from a GBP 50 million fund established in May this year to accelerate and de-risk the early-stage development of UK supply chain projects that service the offshore wind sector.
The Crown Estate’s match funding will contribute to a combined development investment of over GBP 9 million, which, if the opportunities successfully conclude their respective development stages, could lead to more than GBP 400 million of capital investment, said the UK body.
Projects receiving funding include those enabling floating wind platforms, anchoring and mooring systems, operations and maintenance facilities, test facilities, and those supporting the skills transition.
List of organisations to receive funding: Blue Abyss Operations, Celtic Sea Power, Gabriel Engineering, HR Wallingford, Hutchinson Engineering, Marine Power Systems, Neath Port Talbot Group of Colleges (Subject to Contract), Nerth, Pembrokeshire College (Subject to Contract), Plaswire, Plymouth & South Devon Freeport (Subject to Contract), Tardra, and Tugdock.
“As outlined by the Government’s emerging Industrial Strategy, in order for the UK to realise the economic benefits from the clean energy sector – and from offshore wind in particular – it is vital that there are mature, investable propositions which crowd in investments from both public and private capital,” said Ben Brinded, Head of Investment at The Crown Estate.
“The Supply Chain Accelerator forms part of an active dialogue that we’re having with the Offshore Wind sector and with key stakeholders such as Great British Energy and others to identify and explore opportunities for TCE to make commercial and sustainable investments into the UK offshore wind supply chain.”
One of the organizations that secured funding is Tugdock, in partnership with Sarens, who plan to develop a heavy-lift operations and maintenance (O&M) hub at ABP’s port of Port Talbot in Wales.
In a separate press release, the partners said that Port Talbot’s strategic location near the Celtic Sea makes it an optimal hub for supporting floating offshore wind projects, reducing transit times and operational costs for maintenance, assembly, and logistics.
“The Sarens and Tugdock O&M hub will provide a wide range of services including heavy lifting equipment such as cranes and TSPs, assembly areas, storage, training, and consultancy. This all-encompassing service model reduces the need for clients to engage multiple contractors, simplifying project management and reducing overall costs,” said Carl Sarens, Director of Global Operations, Technical Solutions, and Engineering at Sarens.
“The Tugdock and Sarens O&M hub will help create significant employment opportunities at Port Talbot, both directly and indirectly, contributing to regional economic development.”
The Crown Estate has earmarked a further GBP 45 million in funding for future rounds that could potentially be deployed to support further projects around the UK that meet the opportunities identified by the Industrial Growth Plan (IGP) for the offshore wind sector.
The UK’s offshore wind pipeline grew by 10 GW in 2023 to 93 GW, with the sector producing 49 TWh of electricity last year, according to the Crown Estate’s most recent UK offshore wind report.
In the UK’s most recent Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 6 (AR6), nine contracts were awarded for fixed-bottom wind projects, totalling 4.9 GW. Additionally, a single contract was granted for a floating wind project to the Green Volt Offshore Windfarm, a consortium comprising Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn.
