Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) has jointly secured a framework cooperation agreement (FCA) from leading European grid operator TenneT TSO.
The FCA, which was signed with SembMarine’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms Pte. Ltd. (SMOP), and consortium partner GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions (GE), spans five years with the option to extend another three years.
The agreement comprises three contracts, each valued at around EUR2 billion ($2.88 billion). Each contract will supply the high voltage direct current (HVDC) electrical transmission systems for three mega offshore wind farm projects in the Netherlands. The projects have a combined capacity of 6GW and are a part of TenneT’s offshore grid acceleration programme.
Under the FCA, SembMarine will cover the engineering, procurement, construction, transportation, installation and commissioning of three 2GW HVDC offshore converter platforms. These platforms are said to be the biggest and powerful of their kind in the industry.
The platforms will contribute to TenneT’s sustainability aims through its offshore grid development programme.
Construction of the offshore converter platforms will commence progressively from 3Q2024 at SembMarine’s yards in Singapore and Batam.
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The company’s wholly-owned UK-based subsidiary, SembMarine SLP, will be performing the offshore hook-up and commissioning. This will include the provision of logistics and warranty support from its base in the UK, as well as the establishment of a European office in the Netherlands.
“We are delighted to be working with GE and their consortium partners as part of our task to connect 40 GW offshore wind in the North Sea, one of the most important infrastructure projects of the century. TenneT has the technical know-how, scale, and geographical position to connect wind energy from the North Sea, while GE and its consortium partners have the HVDC expertise. Together, with the GE consortia and other HVDC partners we will accelerate the development of the offshore grid, thereby strengthening Europe’s energy security and putting Europe on track to become the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050,” says TenneT’s COO, Tim Meyerjürgens.
"Together with our consortium partners, we are honoured and pleased to play a key role in this critical infrastructure project for European energy security and decarbonisation. These awards confirm that GE’s voltage-sourced converter HVDC technology is now recognised as one of the most advanced in the world,” says Phillippe Piron, CEO of GE Grid Solutions.
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“We are heartened to be awarded this landmark contract for the turnkey construction of the 2GW Offshore Converter Platforms for TenneT’s wind farm projects. This award sets a new benchmark as our biggest capacity and highest specification offshore platforms construction project. We are excited to work with TenneT and our consortium partner GE on this milestone project to deliver the highest standards of sustainability, safety, quality and performance required,” says Samuel Wong, head of SMOP.
“We are delighted, together with our partner GE, to be selected by TenneT for three of their eleven two-gigawatt offshore converter platforms in Europe. These are our largest and most advanced state-of-the-art offshore renewable energy projects to date. We thank GE and TenneT for their trust and confidence in our offshore construction capabilities,” says SembMarine’s CEO Chris Ong.
“We look forward to contributing to TenneT’s vision and decarbonisation objectives and at the same time contributing to the global transition towards cleaner, greener and renewable energy. Offshore renewables is an important pillar of our business and we will continue to develop cleaner, greener and renewable solutions across our entire business value chain in the offshore, marine and energy sectors,” he adds.
As at 2.51pm, shares in SembMarine are trading 4 cents lower or 3.48% down at 11.1 cents.
