CMA SAU accepted DESNZ referral, £64m grant for Port Talbot

Referral of the proposed subsidy to Associated British Ports by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

The Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) has accepted a request for a report providing advice to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) concerning its proposed subsidy to Associated British Ports.

From: Competition and Markets Authority Published 7 April 2026 Case type: SAU referral Case state: Open Market sector: Building and construction Opened: 2 April 2026

Administrative timetable

Date	Action
18 May 2026	SAU’s report to be published
20 April 2026	Deadline for receipt of any third-party submissions
2 April 2026	Beginning of reporting period

Request from DESNZ

2 April 2026: The SAU has accepted a request for a report from DESNZ concerning the proposed subsidy to Associated British Ports. This request relates to a Subsidy of Particular Interest.

The SAU will prepare a report, which will provide an evaluation of DESNZ’s  assessment of whether the subsidy complies with the subsidy control requirements (Assessment of Compliance). The SAU will complete its report within 30 working days.

Information about the subsidy provided by DESNZ

This award is a grant of up to £64 million that will be made available between June 2026 and March 2029 to Associated British Ports to support work undertaken between August 2023 and March 2031. It aims to support developmental expenditure, including funding the design, environmental assessment and consenting activities required to progress Associated British Port’s Future Port Talbot project to a consent ready position capable of enabling future deployment of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.

Floating offshore wind is strategically important to the UK’s long term energy system because it enables deployment in deeper waters where fixed bottom technology is not viable. In the Celtic Sea, recent seabed leasing activity has established a multi gigawatt development pipeline which, if realised, would make a material contribution to the UK’s clean energy and energy security agenda. However, deployment of floating offshore wind at scale is constrained by the absence of suitable port infrastructure capable of supporting the manufacturing, assembly, integration and tow out requirements specific to floating technology. The UK does not currently have a port in the Celtic Sea region that is capable of supporting these activities at commercial scale, and reliance on overseas ports would materially increase costs, delivery risk and logistical complexity to the extent that the technology may not be viable at scale.

This particular award has arisen from the need for Government intervention due to a persistent coordination failure in the floating offshore wind market that is particularly acute during the development expenditure phase. Port developers must commit significant early stage expenditure (on surveys, environmental assessment, design and consenting) many years before there is certainty that floating offshore wind projects will reach final investment decision or generate revenue. Conversely, floating offshore wind developers are unable to make binding commitments to ports until they have secured later stage approvals and revenue support through a Contract for Difference (CfD) which offers floating offshore wind developers a fixed strike price, with government paying or reclaiming the difference from the market price to guarantee stable revenue and enable renewable project investment.

Information for third parties

If you wish to comment on matters relevant to the SAU’s evaluation of the Assessment of Compliance concerning the proposed subsidy to Associated British Ports by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, please send your comments on the date stipulated in the timetable above. For guidance on representations relevant to the Assessment of Compliance, see the section on reporting period and transparency in the Operation of the subsidy control functions of the Subsidy Advice Unit.

Please send your submissions to us at sau-futureporttalbot-2026@cma.gov.uk, copying the public authority: flowmis@energysecurity.gov.uk.

Please also provide a contact address and explain in what capacity you are making the submission (for example, as an individual or a representative of a business or organisation).

Notes to third parties wishing to make a submission

The SAU will only take your submission into account if it can be shared with DESNZ. The SAU will send a copy of your submission to DESNZ together with its report. This is to allow the public authority to take account of the submission in its decision as to whether to grant or modify the subsidy or its assessment. We therefore ask that you provide express consent for your full and unredacted submission to be shared. We also encourage you to share your submission directly with DESNZ using the email address provided above.

The SAU may use the information you provide in its published report. Therefore, you should indicate in your submission whether any specified parts of it are commercially confidential. If the SAU wishes to refer in its published report to material identified as confidential, it will contact you in advance.

For further details on confidentiality of third party submissions, see identifying confidential information in the Operation of the subsidy control functions of the Subsidy Advice Unit.

Contacts

• SAU project team: sau-futureporttalbot-2026@cma.gov.uk
• CMA press team: 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk

Updates to this page

Published 7 April 2026 Contents