Eight UK businesses have secured a share of a GBP 2 million grant competition from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP).
Projects included a focus on condition monitoring of turbine blades and inter-array electrical cables and biofouling prevention on turbine ladders.
Other projects are exploring offshore floating wind mooring and anchoring solutions. In addition to supporting UK supply chain growth, these projects could unlock cost reduction and safer operations in offshore wind development and operations.
The next GBP 2 million development grant competition will launch in May 2023.
“Offshore wind provides exciting growth opportunities for UK supply chain companies within the domestic market and overseas. Since its inception, OWGP has supported over 200 projects across our business transformation and grant funding portfolio at an aggregate value exceeding £15 million”, said Anil Sayhan , OWGP Programme Director.
The OWGP is delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and funded by the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC).
OWGBP’s grant funding portfolio consists of 60 projects, each bringing tangible benefits to the UK offshore wind sector, creating jobs, and unlocking UK export opportunities, said the organisation.
As reported in April 2022, the UK government set an increased target of up to 50 GW of operating offshore wind capacity by 2030 and issued the British Energy Security Strategy which set out the new planning reforms to cut the approval times for new offshore wind farms from four years to one year.