Policy

UK Government announces £10 million for offshore wind

Windfarm under construction (Credit: Siemens)

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne will today announce £10 million in grants for companies in the offshore wind supply chain.

In the first round of grant funding since the Budget, seven supply chain companies will share £5 million.

The two single largest grants, for £2 million and £1 million will go to JDR Systems of Hartlepool and Converteam of Rugby, respectively.

JDR Systems will put the funds towards its £11 million investment to manufacture subsea high voltage cables for next generation megawatt turbines, while Converteam will test its novel large-scale DC conversion technology.

The remainder will be shared between Cooper Rolling Bearings of Kings Lynn, MTL Group of Sheffield, NGentec of Edinburgh and Blade Dynamics on the Isle of Wight for various aspects of large-scale wind turbine technology and South Boats Special Projects for its offshore wind farm support vessels.

Meanwhile, a further £5 million will be granted to Siemens Windpower, as agreed under a previous round of funding, to develop a next-generation 6 MW offshore turbine with an integrated foundation.

“Offshore wind will be very significant in the energy mix as we move to low carbon, sustainable energy supplies,” Huhne will say when he makes the announcement today at the launch of the International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Perspective report.

“That’s why it’s important that we support UK supply chain companies even in these tough economic times with grants to help them develop technologies to fit the emerging market.”

For further information:
www.decc.gov.uk
www.jdrcables.com/
www.converteam.com/
www.cooperbearings.com/
www.mtlgrp.com
www.ngentec.com/
www.bladedynamics.com/
www.southboatssp.co.uk/
www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/power-generation/renewables/wind-power/

05 July 2010

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