1 week Ago By [email protected] (Annette Belcher)
Plymouth & South Devon Freeport is among those set to receive a share of the cash from offshore wind development. Businesses in the south west are among 13 who will get a share of nearly £5m, the initial round of The Crown Estate’s £50m Supply Chain Accelerator fund. The funding will help kick start projects aimed at accelerating and de-risking the early-stage development of supply chain projects that service the offshore wind sector in the region.
The Crown Estate’s match funding will contribute to a combined development investment of over £9 million which, if the opportunities successfully conclude development stages, could lead to over £400 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. 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.
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 Crown Estate’s role is to create long-term value for the country, and it focuses on using the land and seabed it manages to help catalyse net zero, restore nature, create thriving communities and drive economic growth. Helping to develop the offshore wind industry’s domestic supply chain through collaboration with industry and government partners forms a vital component of these ambitions.
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. 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.” Plymouth & South Devon Freeport has been selected subject to contract.
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