Understand and minimise the environmental impacts of offshore wind energy

The grant opportunity is under the Horizon Europe Programme, particularly focusing on offshore wind energy's environmental impacts, designated as HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-08 within Cluster 5. This project emphasizes collaborative research and innovation actions. The budget for this initiative is €15 million, aimed at awarding three grants with a single-stage application process. The application window opens on September 16, 2025, and closes on February 17, 2026.

Eligible applicants include various organizations such as universities, research institutes, small to medium-sized enterprises, large enterprises, public authorities, and civil society organizations situated within EU member states and associated countries. A consortium is encouraged to foster geographical balance and complement existing Horizon projects.

The core objective is to enhance tools, knowledge, and methodologies for assessing and mitigating the cumulative environmental impacts of offshore wind farms. Projects must focus on at least five specified areas, including improving monitoring tools, expanding environmental studies from localized to broader contexts, and identifying optimal deployment sites while minimizing ecological disruption.

The nature of support consists of lump sum grants without co-funding requirements. The grant process expects adherence to open data principles, promoting data accessibility and interoperability through collaboration with existing monitoring frameworks and initiatives like the European Digital Twin of Ocean.

Applications' success rates typically range between 10 to 39%. While precise figures for this specific call are not available, the preliminary assessment suggests competitive funding conditions. The grants are structured to support innovative approaches towards sustainable offshore wind energy deployment while ensuring minimal environmental disturbance across various European sea basins, including the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, and others.

In essence, this grant aims to enhance scientific understanding, promote sustainable practices, and foster technological advancements to tackle the environmental challenges associated with offshore wind energy development.

This EU funding opportunity focuses on understanding and minimizing the environmental impacts of offshore wind energy. It falls under the Horizon Europe Programme, specifically Cluster 5, with call number 02-2026 (WP 2025) and topic number HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-08. It is a Horizon Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) with a lump sum grant (HORIZON-AG-LS).

The indicative budget for this topic is 15,000,000 EUR for the year 2025. The call follows a single-stage submission process. The planned opening date is 16 September 2025, and the deadline for submission is 17 February 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The indicative number of grants to be awarded is 3.

The expected outcomes of this funding opportunity are:

1.  Improved tools, data, and knowledge for the scientific community, public authorities, project designers, permitting authorities, civil society organizations, and citizens to monitor, assess, and minimize the cumulative environmental (including on biodiversity) and socio-ecological impacts of large-scale bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind energy generation, at sea-basin level and combined with other human activities.

2.  Improved monitoring of cumulative environmental impacts, including on biodiversity, of offshore wind installations, with better tools and open data, in a coherent scheme with pre-existing monitoring programs of the marine environment at large scale.

3.  Achievement of ambitious national and regional offshore wind deployment targets with positive or minimum negative impacts on the marine and coastal environment.

4.  Deployment of offshore wind energy with minimal impact on marine and coastal ecosystems, and, if possible, with net-positive ones.

Proposals are expected to address at least five of the following aspects:

1.  Provide better knowledge and understanding of the cumulative environmental impacts of offshore wind energy deployment according to EU targets, when added to current and planned human activities.

2.  Expand existing studies, field monitoring, and analysis from local to larger areas, and from site- or species-specific impacts to more general ones. Further develop and deploy field monitoring activities, measuring multiple pressures and impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems and their services, as well as pollution, from installation to decommissioning and possible repowering, including operational phase and maintenance activities.

3.  Test and demonstrate field monitoring and modelling technologies that allow to go beyond state-of-knowledge, regarding life-cycle environmental impacts of offshore wind energy deployments.

4.  Improve instruments and models for Maritime Spatial Planning and environmental assessments at plan and project level that are in alignment with public authorities’ needs.

5.  Improve modelling capacity and environmental impact assessments of future offshore wind deployment.

6.  Support the identification of areas where wind energy deployment is particularly suitable without significant environmental impact and areas where on the contrary, it should be avoided.

7.  Identify strategies, test, and demonstrate technologies that avoid, minimize, mitigate, and compensate the environmental impact of bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind energy systems, propose mitigation and restoration measures, and if feasible, provide net-positive environmental impacts. Activities under this point are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.

Particular attention must be dedicated to ensuring that the data produced is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) and to leveraging existing community practices for data sharing, especially those in relevant European common data spaces and in European Research infrastructures.

Complementarities with other ongoing and upcoming Horizon Europe projects are expected, including those related to the European Digital Twin of Ocean (DTO). Specific projects mentioned are:

*  HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-CLIMATE-02: The ocean-climate-biodiversity-people nexus: uncovering safe operating space for safeguarding the integrity and health of the global ocean.

*  HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-08: EU Digital Twin Ocean: Contribution to the EU DTO core infrastructure through applications for sustainable ocean management.

*  HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-06: Innovative nature-inclusive concepts to reconcile offshore renewables with ocean protection.

*  HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-08: Integration of socio-ecological models into the Digital Twin Ocean.

*  HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02-08 Minimisation of environmental, and optimisation of socio-economic impacts in the deployment, operation and decommissioning of offshore wind farms.

In addition to considering the most evident environmental impacts of offshore wind energy systems, projects must include an analysis of possible new impacts, that may become particularly relevant when a high number of wind energy systems is deployed, such as those related to decommissioning, dynamic cables, submarine geohazards, or microplastics.

Environmental monitoring data must be open source and shared with the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) and the International Energy Agency Wind Energy Systems Technology Collaboration Programme’s (IEA Wind TCP).

General conditions for participation include admissibility conditions, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, and exclusion criteria, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. The proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

To ensure a balanced portfolio, grants will be awarded to applications that provide the best coverage of different European sea basins (Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea), provided that the proposals attain all thresholds.

The legal and financial set-up of the grants will follow the lump sum contribution model as defined in the relevant EU decision.

Application form templates and evaluation form templates are available in the Submission System. Additional guidance and documentation are provided through the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements, call-specific instructions, and various other resources available on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

This funding opportunity aims to support research and innovation activities that will improve the understanding and management of environmental impacts associated with the deployment of offshore wind energy. It seeks to provide better tools, data, and knowledge to stakeholders, ensuring the sustainable expansion of offshore wind energy while minimizing its effects on marine ecosystems. The focus is on cumulative impacts, life-cycle assessments, and the development of mitigation and restoration strategies, with an emphasis on data sharing and collaboration with other relevant initiatives.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, given the nature of Horizon Europe and the focus on research and innovation actions, eligible applicants are likely to include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations capable of conducting research and development activities. Public authorities and civil society organizations are also mentioned as potential beneficiaries of the project results, suggesting they could be involved as applicants or partners.

Funding Type: The primary funding mechanism is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, as indicated by the "Type of MGA" being "HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]". The call also includes HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement (HORIZON-PCP) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA).

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a consortium is required. However, the emphasis on balanced portfolio coverage across different European sea basins and the need for complementarities with other Horizon Europe projects suggests that a consortium approach is highly encouraged, if not mandatory. Partner search announcements are also mentioned, further indicating the likelihood of consortium-based applications.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The primary geographic eligibility appears to be focused on EU and associated countries, as indicated by the reference to Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. However, the mention of "a number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants" suggests that some third-country participation is possible, depending on specific provisions outlined in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector: The primary target sector is offshore wind energy, with a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability and maritime spatial planning. This includes aspects of energy, environment, climate, and marine/maritime sectors.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are explicitly mentioned. However, the opportunity focuses on the European sea basins, including the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project is indicated by the target Technology Readiness Level (TRL). The activities carried out are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project. This suggests a development and validation stage, moving towards demonstration.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call. The budget overview lists several topics with indicative funding ranges. For example, HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-01 has a budget of €33,000,000 and aims to award around 3 grants, each worth approximately €11,000,000. Other topics have smaller budgets, such as HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-02 with a budget of €8,000,000 and aiming for around 2 grants of €4,000,000 each. Therefore, the funding range is variable, from under €5M to over €5M, depending on the specific action type and topic.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant to cover eligible costs.

Application Stages: The application process consists of a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned. However, the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight. For instance, a topic with a €15,000,000 budget and an indicative number of 3 grants suggests a potentially higher success rate compared to a topic with a similar budget but aiming for only 1 grant. Without more data on the expected number of proposals, it is difficult to estimate the success rates accurately.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement. However, as the eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum, it is possible that the lump sum will not cover all the costs and that co-funding will be needed.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call focuses on understanding and minimizing the environmental impacts of offshore wind energy deployment in European sea basins. The call aims to improve tools, data, and knowledge related to the cumulative environmental and socio-ecological impacts of offshore wind farms, considering their entire lifecycle from construction to decommissioning. Projects should address at least five specific aspects outlined in the scope, including expanding field monitoring, improving modeling capacity, identifying suitable deployment areas, and testing mitigation technologies. The funding is provided as lump sum grants, and consortia are encouraged to ensure balanced geographical coverage and complementarities with other EU initiatives. The call targets a wide range of stakeholders, including researchers, public authorities, industry, and civil society, to contribute to the sustainable deployment of offshore wind energy in Europe. The application process is a single-stage open call, with a planned opening date in September 2025 and a deadline in February 2026.