Crown Estate Selects 13 Firms to Share $6.4M OW Supply Chain Prize
December 10, 2024
The Crown Estate has selected 13 organizations across England, Wales and Scotland to share nearly $6.4 million in funding through the initial round of its innovative Supply Chain Accelerator.
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.
The organizations to benefit from the funding include Blue Abyss Operations, Celtic Sea Power, Gabriel Engineering, HR Wallingford, Hutchinson Engineering, Marine Power Systems, Nerth, Plaswire, Tardra, and Tugdock.
Three more organizations have been selected, subject to contract, including Pembrokeshire College, Neath Port Talbot Group of Colleges, and Plymouth & South Devon Freeport.
Successful projects were rigorously evaluated and selected based on a number of criteria, one of which was their ability to deliver on the requirements of the Celtic Sea Blueprint.
“As outlined by the Government’s emerging Industrial Strategy, in order for the UK to realize 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.
“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,” said Ben Brinded, Head of Investment at The Crown Estate.
The funding will help kick-start projects drawing down from a $63.8 million fund established in May 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 $11 million which, if the opportunities successfully conclude their respective development stages, could lead to more than $500 million of capital investment.
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.
