(Picture Credit: EMA)
Integrating the oil & gas industry into renewable parks, moving technology competence from Europe to Asia, and developing offshore wind parks would be key to developing offshore renewable energy in Asia, said Ronald Davis, Director of Transmission and Distribution Engineering BEW Engineering, during a roundtable discussion at SIEW 2012.
However, offshore renewable energy comes with its own set of challenges, such as laying cost effective subsea cable interconnections between islands, and moving from research to demonstrations, he said.
Joe Phillips, Chartered Engineer and Global Head of Strategy & Policy, GL Garrad Hassan, added that "energy is a political arena and renewable energy even more so". He said politicians are required to create markets, and looking around in the Asia-Pacific region, there are potential markets for offshore wind, wave and tidal energy.
(Picture Credit: EMA)
China has made progress, especially in the offshore wind market, with the first demonstration project deployed in the last two to three years. This has provided Chinese companies with firsthand experience of the engineering challenges. Nevertheless, there is a certain degree of policy uncertainty in China and changes in planning guidance may delay the progress of offshore wind in the country. South Korea and Japan are the other Asian countries that have made progress in the offshore wind market.
Others noted that the opportunities in the offshore renewables sector are still available to alternative energy-disadvantaged countries like Singapore. For example, Vestas chose to be located in the city-state. Andrew Crowle, Director of Mechanical & Materials, Advanced Technology Vestas Technology R&D division, highlighted that this was due to the strong government support they received, as well as access to research institutes and government laboratories.
By :Tay Kai Soon, EMA