The Crown Estate has established a new £50million Supply Chain Accelerator fund, to develop the offshore wind industry’s domestic supply chain.
The Accelerator will provide matched funding to UK supply chain projects, ranging between £250k and £1million per project, to help them undertake the early-stage development works necessary to get them “investment-ready”. The Crown Estate will look for the option to participate as a follow-on funder in the capital investment phase, or to receive a buy-out fee if the project becomes a success.
An initial £10milion pilot fund is now open for Expressions of Interest from businesses looking at projects aimed at supporting the development of new supply chain capability for floating wind in the Celtic Sea. This will build on the opportunities outlined in The Crown Estate’s Celtic Sea Blueprint for supply chain development to deliver the capacity outlined in the current Round 5 leasing process.
The application process opens formally in mid-June and closes at the end of July. Successful projects will be announced from October 2024 following assessment of applications, negotiation of funding agreements and necessary approvals from The Crown Estate.
Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5 aims to establish a new floating wind market in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of South West England and South Wales. A tender process is currently underway focused on three Project Development Areas for new floating wind farms, with a total capacity of up to 4.5GW – making it one of the biggest schemes of its kind in the world.
Responses to the initial stage of the Round 5 tender process (Pre-Qualification Questionnaire) are currently under review, with the full process due to run until Summer 2025. The Crown Estate says it expects to share further details on Round 5 soon.
To provide more information on the Supply Chain Accelerator and address any questions, a series of informative webinars are being held on the following dates:
Wednesday 29 May, 1pm-2pm
Thursday 30 May, 2pm-3pm
Monday 3 June, 1pm-2pm
Thursday 6 June, 2pm-3pm
Tuesday 25 June, 9am-10am
To register for any of these webinars, please email accelerator@thecrownestate.co.uk.
Please visit the Supply Chain Accelerator webpage for more information.