Aberdeen south harbour is becoming a strategic hub for floating offshore wind for Scotland. Pic from Straits Times/ SUE-ANN TAN
ABERDEEN: Wind turbines generating renewable energy in the North Sea might seem far removed from Singapore, but local firms are increasingly making their mark there, contributing to vital nodes in the global offshore wind supply chain.
Over the years, many Singapore offshore and marine companies have pivoted from just servicing the oil and gas sector to also doing business in renewables. Several are redeploying assets and calibration solutions for offshore wind generation.
For instance, Seatrium provides offshore platforms that transmit electricity generated by offshore wind turbines to onshore grids, while Mooreast provides the solutions to anchor the turbines to the seabed.
Meanwhile, Cyan Renewables operates wind-farm support vessels.
The Singapore companies have a presence in Britain, where some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms are located, and more are exploring opportunities to diversify or expand into this sector.
The North Sea is located to the east of Britain.
The global offshore wind market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 22% between 2022 and 2030. By 2030, the industry is expected to be worth approximately US$126bil.
Alan Yeo, Enterprise Singapore’s director for Europe, said: “In Europe, the green transition is among the top priorities of governments. There are ambitious plans and targets, with large projects in the pipeline.
“Specific to Britain, it is looking to generate 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power by 2030, with 5GW from floating offshore wind.”
In June, Enterprise Singapore brought nine Singapore companies to Britain to explore potential opportunities in offshore wind.
While Singapore has no domestic wind energy market, local companies, particularly those in oil and gas, have capabilities that can cross over into that space due to their experience in building oil rigs and supporting offshore activities.
Yeo said: “The scale of the infrastructure and assets, as well as operating conditions in the offshore oil and gas space, have similarities to offshore wind farms.”
He added that marine and offshore energy companies can adapt and participate in areas such as constructing offshore substations, support vessels and mooring products, which are all part of the offshore wind value chain.
Wilson Ang, executive director of the Association of Singapore Marine and Offshore Energy Industries, said local companies had been moving into the offshore wind space in the last five years to take advantage of growing global demand for cleaner energy.
“Offshore wind has been identified as a new growth area for our marine and offshore energy companies, to put our strong engineering capabilities to good use,” he said.
“Our companies have already made successful inroads into Taiwan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. More will be seen in countries like Japan and Vietnam.”
Steven Toy, managing director of AME International, said that while oil and gas are still the company’s bread and butter, it is diversifying into renewables.
The Singapore engineering group is one of a growing number of local firms that have pivoted to offshore wind.
It bought a subsea equipment machining facility from oil and gas giant Baker Hughes in Scotland, which it will repurpose to manufacture offshore wind equipment. —The Straits Times/ANN
