The market entry assistance grant programme is the first initiative to come from the $10 million Offshore Wind Business Development Fund.
This fund was part of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act that was passed last year. The act aims to facilitate the development of 500MW.
"It is important that we support innovative Maryland businesses that seek a dominant position in the offshore wind supply chain with products that challenge the established European market," said Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA).
"It is our hope that with MEA's help these burgeoning companies will develop competencies and become invaluable assets to Maryland ' s clean energy economy and the global offshore wind supply chain."
In December, the US Department of the Interior has proposed the leasing of 80,000 acres off the coast of Maryland for offshore wind development.
The plan, unveiled by interior secretary Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Tommy Beaudreau, says the area could support the development of between 850MW and 1,450MW. The area of coast is 10 nautical miles off the coast of Ocean City.
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