The Crown Estate has launched the third and final round of its Supply Chain Accelerator programme, making an additional £15m ($20.3m) available to support early-stage offshore wind supply chain projects across the United Kingdom.
First introduced in 2024 with a total funding pool of £50m, the programme has already distributed nearly £18m across 26 organisations in two previous rounds, backing a range of industrial and infrastructure initiatives linked to the UK’s offshore wind expansion.
Among the earlier funded projects are the development of an operations and maintenance hub in Port Talbot and a floating offshore wind test facility in Orkney, both designed to strengthen long-term technical capacity in the sector.
The new funding round is open to applicants nationwide, with submissions accepted until July 3. Companies can apply for match funding covering up to 50% of project costs, with grants ranging between £250,000 and £2m for early-stage development activities.
The initiative comes as the UK offshore wind sector continues to expand, with developers currently holding Agreements for Lease for up to 4.5GW of floating offshore wind capacity in the Celtic Sea.
Looking further ahead, The Crown Estate is preparing its Leasing Round 6, scheduled for 2027, which is expected to offer at least 6GW of additional capacity. This will be supported by its new Marine Delivery Routemap, designed to provide greater long-term visibility on investment opportunities and associated onshore industrial benefits.
Julia Rose said the programme is designed to bridge the gap between early-stage ambition and industrial-scale deployment.
“Our Accelerator programme, in alignment with investments from other organisations into the supply chain, is providing the financial support many early-stage projects require to help scale up from ambition to reality,” she said.
The Accelerator is focused on advancing UK supply chain capabilities that align with the Industrial Growth Plan or contribute to port infrastructure and related offshore wind development activities. Successful projects are expected to be announced by the end of the year.
In parallel, Great British Energy is expected to explore co-investment opportunities for projects aligned with its £1bn “Energy, Engineered in the UK” programme, further reinforcing the government-backed push to strengthen domestic offshore wind manufacturing and logistics capacity.
