The Crown Estate announces £400mn investment in offshore wind supply chain

The Crown Estate will invest up to £400 million of capital in the UK’s offshore wind supply chain in a move to support renewable energy development within the country.

The company, which owns and manages a £16 billion portfolio of land property and seabed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, says these investments are intended to support the construction of new infrastructure, including ports, supply chain manufacturing, and research and testing facilities for offshore wind development.

The initiative comes in recognition of the fact that insufficient supply chain capacity is a key constraint limiting the development of further offshore wind in the UK.

Two new supply chain investment programmes

The new investment will be made available through two target programmes, both of which are now live. The first is a new £350m Supply Chain Investment Programme to invest in the construction of new port and supply chain infrastructure, supporting accelerated delivery of UK offshore wind projects.

The Crown Estate will collaborate with organisations from the private and public sector (including Great British Energy and the National Wealth Fund) to ensure the facility is effective and impactful. 

The second is a £50 million investment in The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator programme, supporting early-stage project development. The accelerator already awarded nearly £5 million to 13 organisations in December 2024, and is now seeking to award up to £15 million in a second funding round – with an expanded scope to include UK ports and port-related infrastructure. This round will close applications on June 27, 2025.

Collaboration and investment in the UK supply chain

The Crown Estate leases the seabed for different activities – including offshore wind, with installed capacity of 11.8 GW so far, enough to power 11 million homes. In a recent interview with CSO Futures, Net Zero Director Lamé Verre explained that since the company is not itself a developer, it was also seeking to support and influence supply chain partners: “There will be things that we can do now, and there will be things that we need to innovate around to get the trajectory moving”, she added.

The new investment aims to support the UK’s clean energy transition and create growth opportunities within local communities.  

Ben Brinded, Head of Investment at The Crown Estate, said: “We will not unlock the full economic, social and environmental benefits of offshore wind without collaboration and investment into the UK supply chain. Building out enabling infrastructure is critical if we are to accelerate deployment off our coasts, derisk projects for investors and create local economic opportunities.”

“An aligned and collaborative approach with industry and other public investors will truly help the sector deliver on the ambitions of the Industrial Growth Plan – growing our domestic supply chain, accelerating and de-risking delivery of projects, and boosting technology leadership,” added Tim Pick, Chair, Offshore Wind Growth Partnership.