Request for Applications: Development Grants Program (UK)

Purpose

• The purpose of the Development Grants is to help UK companies scale up capacity or increase capability to enable a step-change in their growth. The call is open to a wide range of proposals across the existing supply chain and beyond, to fund projects that will:
  • Unlock growth in high value UK offshore wind supply chain areas identified by industry
  • Lead to an increase in UK jobs, turnover, intellectual property, and exports in the offshore wind sector.

Focus Areas

• Advanced Turbine Technology:
  • Blades
  • Towers
  • Turbine drive train
• Industrialised Foundations & Substructures:
  • Deep water foundations
  • Moorings and anchors
  • Steel semi-submersible
  • Concrete semi-submersible & gravity foundation
  • Monopile foundation
  • Monopile transition piece
• Future Electrical Systems & Cables:
  • Static and dynamic array cable
  • Offshore export cable
  • Onshore export cable
  • Offshore substation foundation
  • Electrical system design
• Next Generation Installation, Operations & Maintenance:
  • Wind turbine installation vessels
  • Cables installation vessels
  • O&M vessels
  • Schedule maintenance and repairs
  • Landfall HDD and cable pull operations
  • Floating turbine installation
  • Floating assembly
  • Wind turbine installation equipment and transportation frames
  • Monopile Installation
• Smart Environmental Services:
  • Environmental Surveys

Scope

• The aim of this competition is to support UK supply chain companies to grow through increased competitiveness, increased capability and/or development of new technologies, products, and services. Companies are invited to submit applications for projects that demonstrate high growth potential and will enable increases in sales turnover (within UK and/or exports), intellectual property and jobs.
• Proposals should demonstrate clear alignment and growth potential in at least one of the above focus areas. Project activity can include the following:
  • Investing in new equipment or facilities to increase manufacturing or service delivery capacity or capability.
  • Developing and implementing new operational processes that will increase competitiveness in the UK and global markets
  • Investing in new technologies, products and/or services to improve operational performance, reliability and/or efficiency. Please note that any technology development should be near-to-market, ready for commercialisation. This includes floating technology.
  • Other activity that will grow the company and lead to increased jobs, turnover, exports and/or IP.

Funding Information

• Grants of £50k to £500k.
• All projects must be ready to start on or before 1st September 2025, with agreed match funding and a project plan.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be a UK-registered company of any size.
• Applicants cannot submit a funding application for a project that does not have a distinct scope that is unlikely to materialise without external funding support
• The Project scope cannot be described as “business as usual”.
• Applicants must demonstrate clear alignment with at least one of the five priority supply chain areas in the competition scope (identified in the 2024 Offshore Wind Industrial Growth Plan)
• Applicants must NOT be in receipt of current OWGP funding through a funding competition launched within the last 12 months (including the Jan 2024 Development Grant Competition).
• Applicants must NOT have already received 3 or more OWGP funding awards (unless at least one of the funding awards was made repayable to OWGP)
• Applicants that are resubmitting a proposal from a previous OWGP funding competition may only resubmit ONCE.
• Applicants must demonstrate that the product, service, or facility has an application in offshore wind.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate a clear business need or market opportunity for their product/service/facility.
• Applicants must demonstrate ability to contribute cash or in-kind investment of at least 50% of the total project budget. (For example: a £1m project could be made up of £500k OWGP funding, £250k investment from company and £250k in-kind from the company). Please note, third party funding may be used alongside OWGP funding, providing the applicant (lead organisation) can satisfy the OWGP matched funding requirement on its own.

For more information, visit OWGP.