Thirteen organisations across England, Wales and Scotland will share nearly £5 million in funding as part of the initial round of The Crown Estate’s innovative Supply Chain Accelerator.
The funding aims to kick-start projects, drawing down from a £50 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.
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. Five of the successful companies are planning operations in Wales.
Among them is Swansea-based technology developer Marine Power Systems (MPS). The match-funded grant will enable MPS to conduct a technical and commercial feasibility study for establishing a fabrication facility to produce primary steel components for its innovative PelaFlex floating platform technology.
With Port Talbot as the preferred location, the facility would serve both the Celtic Sea and export markets via the Celtic Freeport – offering tax advantages, excellent connectivity, and access to local skills and supply chain.
Gareth Stockman, CEO at Marine Power Systems commented:
We are thrilled to have secured funding from The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator, and it means we can advance our plans to develop a fabrication facility in Port Talbot that leverages local supply chain strengths to deliver our innovative PelaFlex floating platform at scale.
It marks a significant step toward establishing our first UK manufacturing base. This is an exciting milestone for Marine Power Systems, with the potential to make a transformative impact on the local economy.
The full list of organisations to receive funding in this initial round is:
- Blue Abyss Operations Ltd.
- Celtic Sea Power Ltd.
- Gabriel Engineering Ltd.
- HR Wallingford Ltd.
- Hutchinson Engineering Ltd.
- Marine Power Systems Ltd.
- Neath Port Talbot Group of Colleges (Subject to Contract)
- Nerth Ltd.
- Pembrokeshire College (Subject to Contract)
- Plaswire Ltd.
- Plymouth & South Devon Freeport (Subject to Contract)
- Tardra Ltd.
- Tugdock Ltd
Engineering firm Tugdock and crane rental, heavy lifting and engineered transport experts Sarens, have also secured funding to support their joint project to develop a heavy lift Operations and Maintenance (O&M) hub at the port of Port Talbot.
With key support from major industry players such as ABP and RWE, the vision for the facility is to provide world class support for heavy lift equipment used in floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.
Carl Sarens, Director of Global Operations, Technical Solutions and Engineering at Sarens said:
The Sarens and Tugdock O&M hub will provide a wide range of services including heavy lifting equipment such as cranes, 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.
In early 2024, The Crown Estate published the Celtic Sea Blueprint, which predicted that 5,300 jobs and a £1.4bn economic boost could be generated through deploying the first floating offshore wind capacity, resulting from the current Leasing Round 5 process, in the waters off South Wales and South-West England.
The research highlighted a number of opportunities for supply chain development essential for the deployment of these floating wind farms, including: floating platform components; dynamic cables and connections; wet storage infrastructure and facilities; operations and management infrastructure and facilities; and skills transition facilities.
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.
Ben Brinded, Head of Investment at The Crown Estate, said:
This is a significant moment for The Crown Estate as our first direct investment into the UK’s offshore wind supply chain, and I would like to congratulate the 13 organisations on their success.
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.
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.
This was the initial round of funding allocated by The Crown Estate to address some of these opportunities with a further £45m earmarked 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 is already a global leader in offshore wind, and the pipeline grew by 10GW in 2023 to 93GW, with the sector producing 49TWh of electricity last year, according to The Crown Estate’s most recent UK Offshore Wind Report.
This announcement comes as the UK Government continues to set out details of Great British Energy, including a new partnership with The Crown Estate to support the accelerated delivery of clean energy infrastructure, benefiting millions of homes and businesses across the country.