UK Outfits Secure £1.3m in Offshore Wind Funding

Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) has announced the winners of its Cross-Sector Support and Open Funding competitions as well as its Sharing in Growth Programme.

Twelve UK companies have secured £1.3m in funding and business improvement support from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP).

The OWGP programme was established as part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal and is funded by members of the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC). 

In the Cross-Sector Support and Open Call funding competitions, 10 companies, ranging from those already active in offshore wind to those diversifying from adjacent sectors such as oil and gas, wave and tidal, and traditional casting and forging, secured £600,000 in grant funding, with £400,000  leveraged in matched contributions from the companies themselves.

Apollo, EC-OG, Ledwood, Sheffield Forgemasters and Vrai were successful in the Cross-Sector Support call with projects that address barriers to diversification and support the expansion of the UK supply chain.

Sheffield Forgemasters will carry out a feasibility study on the manufacture of structural castings for floating platforms, while Ledwood will investigate the feasibility of manufacturing nacelle components at a facility in South Wales.

Cognitive Business, Leask Marine, MarynSol, Offshore Survival Systems and Sennen Tech are the Open Call winners with projects that will develop solutions and demonstrate improved competitiveness within the supply chain.

Leask Marine will carry out the demonstration of subsea drill rig for installing deep water piles and anchors for fixed and/or floating offshore wind applications.

These projects will begin in February 2021.

In addition, Wescott Industrial Services Ltd and Global Energy Group (GEG), have secured funding within the OWGP’s Sharing in Growth business improvement programme.

The Sharing in Growth Offshore Wind programme will provide both companies with £150,000 of grant funding over nine months to support a series of structured improvement activities provided by the Sharing in Growth UK Ltd team.

OWGP programme director Andrew Macdonald said: “These 12 companies represent a growing community of supply chain companies from across the UK being supported by OWGP, bringing the total number of companies awarded support to forty-eight.

“In 2021, we will be further expanding our reach – helping more start-ups to grow, and bigger companies get better.”