The Technology Strategy Board has announced a new competition to support development and demonstration projects to create supply chain innovation in UK offshore wind and renewable energy.
£7m will be invested in projects developing and demonstrating component technologies in offshore wind systems, with £3m committed to feasibility studies and the remaining £1.2m supporting innovation between universities and industry in the sector.
Robert Littlefair, Soapstone Associates’ Managing Director said “Its encouraging that the funding is flexible by allowing UK businesses in sectors such as oil and gas, defence, aerospace and automotive to benefit develop their offshore energy supply capability. Soapstone has a number of clients already working in the renewable sector who can benefit from this kind of direct grant support but senior managment teams in other sectors need to think about how the fund can support their plans to enter the market.”
Applications need to be submitted by the 16th January 2013 for the project and feasibility funding support but university/industry partnership funding requests can be submitted up to the 24th April 2013.
The funding is a combination from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Projects involving offshore wind, wave, tidal stream and tidal range energy will be targeted with the funding.