Industry-funded programme to develop 'globally competitive' UK supply chain and help support over 650 companies
A £100m fund to support UK businesses in the offshore wind sector has been launched by the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) in a bid to help the UK capitalise on "huge opportunities" for expected rapid global growth over the next decade.
Announced yesterday, the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) is a 10-year programme aimed at helping supply chain companies to boost their competitiveness worldwide, offering funding for innovation programmes and expert advice on how to scale up manufacturing and commercialisation efforts, OWIC said.
The initiative is expected to support more than 650 UK companies as they work to access the domestic offshore wind market and seize further opportunities in a global market, which is set to be worth £30bn per year by 2030, according to OWIC.
The move forms part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal agreed between industry and government earlier this year, which aims to install at least 30GW of UK offshore wind capacity and triple the number of people working in the industry over the next decade from 7,200 today to 27,000 by 2030. It also aims to increase UK-made materials and technologies in offshore wind farms from 48 per cent at present to 60 per cent over the same time period.
The programme will be delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, which anticipates the annual value of UK offshore wind exports alone could grow five-fold by the end of the next decade to £2.6bn.
Industry chair of the OWIC and Ørsted UK country manager for offshore, Benj Sykes, said the programme was aimed at both new entrants to the market as well as firms already involved in the offshore wind sector.
"The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership will provide practical help for UK companies so they can compete successfully for contracts in this thriving global market," he said. "The UK's global pre-eminence in offshore wind means we are uniquely placed to sell our innovative products and services worldwide."
Martin Whitmarsh - the former McLaren Group CEO who led the review of the UK offshore wind supply chain which was published in February - will also chair a new independent board set up to govern the OWGP.
Companies seeking support from the OWGP are invited to apply to the programme on a regular basis. The first application process expected is to open in September this year, with further programmes starting in early 2020.
The news came as the Crown Estate - which manages the seabed around England, Scotland and Wales and returns its profits to HM Treasury - announced annual financial results, which show its offshore wind leasing activities continue to play a key role in driving its revenues.
The real estate business recorded a record income of £343.5m from April 2018 to the end of March this year, and recently saw the opening of Ørsted's Walney Extension off the coast of Cumbria, which became the world's largest wind farm operational wind farm with a capacity of 659MW.
Huub den Rooijen, director of energy minerals and infrastructure at the Crown Estate, welcomed the results. "Offshore wind has again been a key driver of our outperformance, supported by the continued progress of projects through key consenting milestones and into operation," he said. "With continued appetite from government and the market, we're looking ahead to facilitate the next phase of growth, putting the pipeline in place to meet electricity needs into the 2020s and beyond and supporting the UK's continued position as a world leader in the offshore wind sector."
The Crown Estate is expected to make a final announcement on areas of the seabed to be made available for Leasing Round 4 later this year, paving the way for a new wave of offshore wind farm development.