Engineering news
The GROW:OffshoreWind programme has been granted a six-month extension as part of the government’s Industrial Strategy to help more manufacturers take advantage of investment in supply chain infrastructure.
More than £1 million of funding has been put aside to assist firms to overcome barriers to entry by giving them access to specialist support on developing sales strategy, processes and exploring new technologies.
Companies looking to break into or increase market share in offshore wind will be assigned a specialist advisor and can then tap into grants of up to £10,000 to help with improvement projects. Following an initial visit from one of the programmes eight specialist advisors to assess the needs of the organisation, firms will also be provided with further support from third party consultancies or support agencies.
The GROW:OffshoreWind programme was launched in June 2013, and has so far allocated £7 million of funding to support just under 1,000 firms with capital investment, R&D, and, in some cases, helping companies to relocate.
Dominic Brown, head of GROW:OffshoreWind, told PE: “We got off to a fairly slow start, mainly because there was a lot of uncertainty in the market place – there was a number of significant investments that people were aware of that hadn't landed like the Siemens offshore wind site in Hull.
“However, over the last year there has been some quite significant investments at the Tier 1 level within the supply chain, for example blade manufacturers and turbine manufacturers opening new sites such as Vestas returning to the Isle of Wight.
“As a result we have seen an uptake of companies in lower tiers looking at the industry with a bit more seriousness and feeling that there are opportunities in this sector for them. ”
Much of the work carried out by Grow has been in making the supply chain needs of Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies more transparent to SMEs, ensuring that firms are able to create valuable contacts within the industry through methods such as networking events.
Programme partners RenewableUK have also developed a strategic supply chain steering group, made up of around 20 industry members, to explain what their own supply chain needs are to English manufacturers.
Kent-based electrical installation firm H&Askham, which specialises in extra high voltage, high voltage, low voltage, fibre optic cable jointing and cable pulling and installation, accessed £3,900 of funding from Grow to help with improving visibility and control over safety and productivity measures for its workforce. This saw the firm add several millions of pounds to its annual sales after undertaking contracts with two offshore wind farms in Germany and a solar farm in the UK. Seven new jobs have also been created as a result to cope with the additional demand for its services, taking the company up to 35 people.
Claire Cooper, business development manager at H&Askham, said: “Renewables is a major growth area for us. However, we needed to make sure we could sustain this expansion, whilst continuing to look at new opportunities and adapting to how the sector was changing in terms of legislation and policy.
“The events – specifically tailored for the sector – have been very useful and our advisor has been a constant source of market data, changes in policy and also ensuring we were aware of new tender opportunities for projects. The sort of insight you can’t really buy.”
Brown said: “There is quite a significant ramp up of activities to meet our renewable energy obligations for 2020. Over the next six months we are looking to support companies that we think have the capability to link into the supply chain, who have the opportunity within the very near future to take advantages of the builds that are happening over the next few years, and companies that are going to be competitive enough to win contracts.”
GROW:OffshoreWind is delivered by Grant Thornton and programme partners the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), RenewableUK and the University of Sheffield.
To find out more visit: http://www.growoffshorewind.com/our-service/funding/