Leading international marine and engineering consultancy aims to enhance offshore wind farm construction, quality and safety in fledgling Taiwan market
London, 7 September 2017 – LOC Renewables, a part of LOC Group, the premier international marine and engineering consultancy, together with four other parties, yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining their intention to work together to further offshore wind farm development and construction in Taiwan.
Together with the CR Classification Society, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, Taiwan Electric Research & Testing Center and Electronics Testing Center, LOC will look to enhance the quality, safety and reliability of offshore wind farm construction in the South China Sea region.
“With offices throughout the region in Seoul, Singapore and Vung Tau, Vietnam, LOC’s team of offshore renewable engineering consultants are ideally placed to support our Taiwanese colleagues as they look to expand the country’s offshore wind capacity and attract developers,” said RV Ahilan, Group Director of Renewables Advisory & Energy Technology at LOC Renewables.
“LOC has long been involved in offshore wind energy in Asia, having acted as technical consultant on the Bac Lieu wind farm in Vietnam when the first phase began construction back in 2011. We’re looking forward to bringing this experience, and the vast knowledge we have built up in European offshore wind energy, to the fledgling Taiwanese market – helping it to fulfil its potential,” he added.
Hard on the heels of having marine warranted the Tamra project in Korea, LOC Korea is currently providing marine warranty surveying services on the country’s 60MW Southwest Offshore wind farm, demonstrating successful knowledge transfer from the European offshore wind industry to the growing Asian offshore wind industry.
Under the terms of the MOU, the five parties will co-operate and share expertise in a number of areas, most notably construction, research into suitable technologies and marine warranty surveying. In addition, the co-signers will host a technical seminar on these topics.
As the Taiwanese offshore wind industry develops, LOC Renewables will assist in the evaluation and review of offshore wind projects, from conception and planning through to operations and maintenance.
Dr Liou Ming-Jong, Director General of the Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection at Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, and who witnessed the Memorandum, said: “Cooperation with LOC in marine warranty survey (MWS) will play an important role for insurers’ underwriting for the Taiwanese offshore wind farm construction. We plan to have our third party certification team work with LOC to carry out MWS for Taiwanese offshore wind farms, and further promote these investment opportunities to the whole industry.”
Following yesterday’s signing of the MOU, and in addition to hosting a delegation consisting of representatives from each of the other co-signing bodies, LOC Renewables will take its guests to a briefing, hosted by E.ON as construction service provider to the Rampion Offshore Wind project currently being built off the UK south coast by E.ON, the Green Investment Bank Ltd and Enbridge.
About LOC Renewables
The LOC Renewables team is a part of LOC Group, a leading international marine and engineering consultancy and survey company that was founded in 1979. Headquartered in London, the Group operates over 30 offices in 15 countries around the world, employing over 400 staff.
LOC Renewables combines traditional LOC services with those of its sister company, Longitude Engineering. These services include marine warranty survey (MWS) services, marine & engineering consultancy, surveys, inspections & audits, claims, disputes & litigation, and management of marine casualties.
The company is now the market-leading MWS service provider and sits on the MWS advisory panel to the Joint Rig Committee of underwriters. LOC Renewables has acted as marine warranty surveyor on more than 30 offshore wind projects, thus making LOC Renewables the number one MWS provider in the offshore wind sector.
