Offshore wind manufacturing investment support scheme

The government is supporting major new ports to create next-generation offshore wind turbines. The expected rapid deployment of offshore wind across the UK, Europe and globally over the next decade, together with the increasing size of turbines, means that there is a need for a major expansion in manufacturing capacity in the coming years.

This scheme aims to accelerate the development of large scale manufacturing portside hubs, which could see financial support to strengthen the UK’s offshore wind manufacturing capability, creating employment and investment in both coastal communities and the wider supply chain.

Following the Request for Information in October 2020, we have now launched a formal competitive process on a single large coastal manufacturing site for the offshore wind industry. This would generate manufacturing clusters where several large-scale producers can co-locate.

Eligibility criteria

We invite coastal landowners and developers of potential large scale manufacturing portside hubs to submit formal applications. Sites or projects must meet the basic criteria, but beyond this applicants can be flexible in how they best meet the scheme objectives.

Your site or project must meet all 7 criteria to be eligible for the award:

• the proposed site must be coastal
• the site must comprise a minimum of 200 hectares of available land with unfettered access to the planned quay to support the manufacture, storage and assembly of offshore wind turbines and components
• the planned quay must have a minimum length of 300 meters and be able to simultaneously accommodate at least 2 installation vessels with a draft of 10 meters or more at any stage of the tide
• the project must have a realistic chance of commencing manufacturing activities by the end of 2023
• the applicant must provide written evidence of ongoing positive investment interest from offshore wind manufacturers who wish to locate manufacturing facilities at the site
• the project must be financially viable, with the help of the award
• the funding requested as part of your application in respect of your project must be additional. This means that government assistance must be required for project to go ahead