Sembmarine and GE bag contract to build wind farm in North Sea

SEMBCORP Marine and its consortium partner have been picked by German utilities company RWE as the preferred suppliers of the electrical transmission system for one of the world's biggest offshore wind farms located at sea north-east of the United Kingdom.

Sembcorp Marine, together with GE Renewable Energy's Grid Solutions, will start early design works for the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm this month. The full contract is subject to a final investment decision, which is due in the first quarter of 2021.   

If approved, it is expected that Sembcorp Marine will build and install the wind farm's offshore converter platform.

As the consortium leader, GE's Grid Solutions will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the two HVDC converter stations. 

The 593 sq km wind farm, located on Dogger Bank in the North Sea, represents about £3 billion (S$5.3 billion) in investment in the UK's electricity infrastructure. It will provide clean electricity to almost 1.2 million homes in the UK, the marine arm of Sembcorp Industries said.

Sembmarine's president and chief executive Wong Weng Sun said: "The Sofia Offshore Wind Farm will strengthen Sembcorp Marine's strategic diversification into greener solutions, which already accounted for over S$530 million of our new orders in 2019.

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"In supporting the global economy's transition towards a cleaner energy mix, we aim to have 30 per cent of our total revenue from sustainable products and solutions by 2030."

Construction of the wind farm is planned to begin onshore early next year, with offshore construction expected to get underway in 2023.

Sembcorp Marine is now fabricating jacket foundations for the Formosa 2 Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan, as well as substation topsides for the Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm, also located in the UK North Sea.

Shares of Sembmarine closed up 0.5 Singapore cents, or 1.11 per cent to S$0.455.