Offshore Wind Growth Partnership announces winners of its ‘Cross-Sector Support’ and ‘Open Funding’ Competitions as well as its Sharing in Growth Programme

EC-OG is among twelve UK companies that 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).

EC-OG was successful in the ‘Cross-Sector Support’ call with a project to develop an Intelligent Wind Energy Storage (IWES) platform, an evolution of its smart battery and energy management technology for the offshore wind market.

Along with EC-OG, Apollo, 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 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.

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.

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.”

Paul Slorach, EC-OG Business Development Director commented;

“This is our first foray into offshore wind; we are delighted to receive this support from OWGP’s cross sector support programme and continue our journey. Our cutting-edge smart battery and energy management technologies can bring significant advantages to other global customers away from our ‘traditional’ oil & gas base. The Intelligent Wind Energy Storage platform is the starting point. We’re keen to demonstrate the value proposition to the offshore wind supply chain and this programme will greatly help EC-OG and the other successful UK companies tap into the rapidly growing international offshore wind market.”

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