The Crown Estate launches Supply Chain Accelerator to catalyse early-stage investment in UK offshore wind supply chain

The UK’s offshore wind industry is set to benefit from increased early-stage investment in its supply chain through the launch of The Crown Estate’s innovative Supply Chain Accelerator (“the Accelerator”).

The Accelerator is a new £50m fund created to accelerate and de-risk the early-stage development of projects linked to offshore wind, helping to grow and nurture the UK’s domestic supply chain.

An initial £10m round of funding is now open for Expressions of Interest for businesses looking to establish UK projects that could support the development of a new UK supply chain capability for floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.

Earlier this year, The Crown Estate published research, 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, that will result from the current Leasing Round 5 process, in the waters off South Wales and South-West England.

This research highlighted a number of opportunities for supply chain development essential for the development 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.