Monday 15th February 2021
Offshore Wind Growth Partnership announces winners of its ‘Cross-Sector Support’ and ‘Open Funding’ Competitions as well as its Sharing in Growth Programme
Twelve UK companies are celebrating after securing £1.3m in funding and business improvement support from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP). The OWGP programme was established as part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal and is funded by members of the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC).
In the ‘Cross-Sector Support’ and ‘Open Call’ funding competitions, ten companies, ranging from those already active in offshore wind to those diversifying from adjacent sectors such as oil and gas, wave and tidal, and traditional casting and forging, secured £600,000 in grant funding, with £400,000 leveraged in matched contributions from the companies themselves.
Apollo, EC-OG, Ledwood, Sheffield Forgemasters and Vrai were successful in the Cross-Sector Support call with projects that address barriers to diversification and support the expansion of the UK supply chain. Cognitive Business, Leask Marine, MarynSol, Offshore Survival Systems and Sennen Tech are the Open Call winners with projects that will develop innovative solutions and demonstrate improved competitiveness within the supply chain. These projects will begin in February 2021.
In addition, Wescott Industrial Services Ltd and Global Energy Group (GEG (Holdings) Ltd), have commenced their journey on the OWGP’s Sharing in Growth business improvement programme. The programme is designed to support forward-thinking companies to compete in the global offshore wind market and provides a bespoke and integrated programme to develop leadership, culture and competitive operational capability to grow profitability.
The Sharing in Growth Offshore Wind programme will provide both companies with £150,000 of grant funding over nine months to support a series of structured improvement activities provided by the Sharing in Growth UK Ltd team. The programme is the first of its kind in the offshore wind sector, building upon the excellent track record proven by Sharing in Growth in the Aerospace and Civil Nuclear sectors since 2012.
Global Energy Group, based in the Port of Nigg in Ross-shire has a heritage in the Oil & Gas sector having provided equipment manufacture, fabrication and stewardship for marine, topside and subsea equipment for many years. The GEG team already have a track record of providing manufacture, assembly, logistics marshalling and O&M works to the renewable energy sector. They have recently announced plans to extend their quayside capacity to facilitate the increasing demand from the renewable sector at the Port of Nigg.
Jarrow-based Wescott Industrial Services provides operations and maintenance solutions to several offshore sectors including marine, oil and gas and offshore wind. The organisation is a service provider of protective industrial coatings, fire protection coatings, scaffolding, rope access, rigging and minor mechanical works. Wescott works predominantly in the UK, with extensive operations and facilities overseas and hopes to increase its global reach.
Andrew Macdonald, OWGP Programme Director, said: “These twelve companies represent a growing community of supply chain companies from across the UK being supported by OWGP, bringing the total number of companies awarded support to forty-eight. In 2021, we will be further expanding our reach – helping more start-ups to grow, and bigger companies get better.”
Tim Cornelius, Global Energy Group Chief Executive Officer, commented “We are delighted to receive this support from OWGP’s Sharing in Growth business improvement programme. We are designing a facility that must be able to compete in terms of safety, quality, productivity and cost in the global offshore wind market and this program will provide us access to sector experts who will assist us in being world class from day one. The UK must strive to re-establish itself as a leader in advanced manufacturing or risk missing out on the real economic benefits of the offshore wind boom. The program will help companies like GEG learn from other relevant sectors to accelerate our journey towards optimum productivity, reduced waste and maximum adoption of best practice and cutting edge technologies.”
Danielle Lane, Co-Chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council and UK Country Manager for Vattenfall, said: “The wide range of companies which have secured funding shows that businesses from diverse sectors are finding new opportunities in the UK’s rapidly expanding offshore wind supply chain. The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership is proactively seeking out new entrants to our industry to ensure we maximise the economic benefits of offshore wind for UK firms. These innovative companies are bringing transferable skills and a wealth of expertise to our sector. Over the course of this decade, we will need many more firms like these to enter the supply chain as we quadruple our offshore wind capacity. This technology has a central role in the Prime Minister’s Green Industrial Revolution and in helping the UK to reach net zero emissions as fast as possible”.
To find out more about the OWGP, and apply for any of the business improvement and growth support programmes, visit https://owgp.org.uk
Ends
Notes to Editors
Full List of funding competition winners and projects are:
| Cross-Sector Support Call Winners | Project Description |
| Apollo | PALM (Pull-and-Lock-Marine) quick connect system for floating mooring and electrical connectors. |
| EC-OG | Intelligent Wind Energy Storage (IWES) for real time systems applied to offshore substations. |
| Ledwood | Investigating the feasibility of manufacturing nacelle components at a facility in South Wales (manufacturing, assembly and delivery services) |
| Sheffield Forgemasters | Feasibility study on the manufacture of structural castings for floating platforms |
| Vrai | Data driven virtual reality simulation training for offshore wind health and safety modules. |
| Open Call Winners | Project Description |
| Cognitive Business | WAVES-2 building on the success of WAVES enabling highly localised assessment of safe conditions for vessel to turbine transfers. |
| Leask Marine | Demonstration of subsea drill rig for installing deep water piles and anchors (for fixed and/or floating offshore wind applications) |
| MarynSol | Development of “OWynd” O&M inspection package including automated data acquisition from a multi-sensor suite and an AUV cable inspection service. |
| Offshore Survival Systems | Remotely operated, unmanned “search and rescue” vessel for offshore operations |
| Sennen Tech | Extending Sennen’s offshore wind monitoring and control system with advancements across its multi-site functionality. |
About the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership
The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) was launched in June 2019 and is a key part of the Sector Deal between industry and Government and is funded by the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) with a budget of £100m over a ten-year period. It is a long-term business transformation programme that will promote closer collaboration across the supply chain, implement structured productivity improvement programmes and facilitate shared growth opportunities between developers and the supply chain. ORE Catapult will manage the delivery of OWGP with support from specialist delivery partners.
About the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
ORE Catapult was established in 2013 by the UK Government and is part of a network of Catapults set up by Innovate UK in high growth industries. It is the UK’s leading innovation centre for offshore renewable energy.
Independent and trusted, with a unique combination of world-leading test and demonstration facilities and engineering and research expertise, ORE Catapult convenes the sector and delivers applied research, accelerating technology development, reducing risk and cost and enhancing UK-wide economic growth.
Active throughout the UK, ORE Catapult has operations in Glasgow, Blyth, Levenmouth, Aberdeen, Hull, the South West and Wales.
About the Offshore Wind Industry Council
A senior Government and industry forum, OWIC was established in 2013 to drive the development of the world-leading offshore wind sector in the UK.
For more information contact:
ORE Catapult: Lee Madigan, Head of Communications, lee.madigan@ore.catapult.org.uk, 07889 806490