UK offshore wind funding for companies splits 1,000,000 pounds among 7 firms

UK offshore wind funding for companies backs 7 projects

UK offshore wind funding for companies reached a new round on 8 September 2026, when the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, known as OWGP, a UK industry group that funds new offshore wind equipment before it reaches the market, said it had split 1,000,000 pounds among 7 UK companies. Individual project awards in this round ranged from 25,000 to 200,000 pounds, open to UK based suppliers already working in offshore wind or companies trying to move into the sector. OWGP opened this call in January 2026, covering the same 2 technology areas as the winning projects, industrial foundations and substructures, and substations and electrical design. Divided evenly, the 1,000,000 pounds works out to about 142,857 pounds per company, a calculation this article makes by dividing the total by the company count, since OWGP does not report a per company figure.

What the 7 winning projects are

Acuity Robotics is building a robot, named Squirrel, that inspects the underwater legs holding a turbine steady without sending down a diver. Akselos is refining a design method, Akselos DfMA, that plans how offshore wind support structures get built and assembled in UK factories. Crondall Energy is developing a mooring system called SafeMoor, the chains and anchors that keep a floating turbine from drifting away. Fathom is upgrading METHOD, a digital model of a wind farm that updates itself as real data comes in from the farm it copies. Quoceant is building Q Connect, an underwater electrical cable link rated at 66 kilovolts, a higher voltage that lets it carry more power to shore. Sperra Seaworks is testing a concrete anchor that holds a floating turbine to the seabed by suction instead of being driven in. T12 Engineering is pairing a floating mooring system with the tools needed to install and maintain it at sea.

Why 2 energy developers are backing the fund

Equinor and SSE, 2 energy developers, back OWGP as industry champions, meaning they help choose winners. Tom Speedie, project manager at OWGP, said,

These awards reflect OWGP's commitment to backing the technologies and businesses that can strengthen the UK's offshore wind supply chain for the long term.

Tom Speedie, Project Manager at the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership. Source 1.

James Lightfoot, senior innovation manager at SSE, said,

For developers, proven technology reduces risk and increases confidence in project delivery.

James Lightfoot, Senior Innovation Manager, SSE. Source 1.

How this round compares with other OWGP funding

This round follows 2 recent ones. In February 2026, OWGP gave 5 companies a total of 1,200,000 pounds to scale up manufacturing, with each project expected to bring at least 5,000,000 pounds of investment within 2 years and at least 20 new jobs within 5 years. In December 2025, OWGP gave 9 companies a total of 2,400,000 pounds. Since OWGP started in 2019, it says it has backed more than 387 projects like these.

OWGP also runs a separate and far bigger funding tier, the Industrial Growth Fund, launched 27 October 2025, that gives 300,000 to 25,000,000 pounds to a single project. The maximum single award in that fund, 25,000,000 pounds, is 25 times the size of the entire 1,000,000 pound round this article covers, a comparison this article calculates by dividing the 2 sourced figures. OWGP says its target for 2035 is 10,000 new supply chain jobs, tripled UK manufacturing capacity, and a 25,000,000,000 pound boost to the economy.