In focus: Cooperation in offshore energy sector is a bellwether for green transition

The “transition” part of the energy transition is beginning to show a more defined shape with each passing day as witnessed in a week behind us that was filled with announcements favoring the net-zero future coming from governments and all the way to private offshore energy companies.

Industry majors and countries have realised that in order to achieve climate goals faster and ensure that energy transition mechanisms become more attainable and cheaper, they need to team up with others, and that running solo is not a good option.

Such an example is given by Qatar’s state-owned energy giant QatarEnergy which signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy with the aim of strengthening cooperation in the energy sector.

The MoU, said to pave the way for continued cooperation, covers areas such as knowledge sharing, workforce development, and exploring further investment opportunities in Namibia.

“We are pleased to further enhance our cooperation with the Government of Namibia and build on our recent successes. This agreement further strengthens our relationship as we work jointly towards a prosperous future,” said Minister Al-Kaabi.

Energy should be the top priority of everybody, especially now that the global energy landscape is facing various difficulties and uncertainties.

The dependency on energy will not decrease, but it will rather increase as time passes. That is why major companies need to strengthen their cooperation across the globe if they ever want to achieve the 2050 target.

With that in mind, this week’s highlight in the subsea market comes from the renewable energy company Sun Cable, which inked a Letter of Intent (Lol) with an Australian critical minerals company for the potential offtake of renewable electricity from the planned Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink) project.

Under the one-year non-binding LoI, Sun Cable will progress commercial and technical discussions with Tivan in support of the potential offtake of 200 to 300 MW of electricity from the power project for the supply of the planned TIVAN Processing Facility (TPF) in Darwin.

Seeing that cooperation can only bring fruitful outcomes, in the clean fuel market, six European Union (EU) countries launched an international tender for a pre-feasibility study for the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, a cross-border hydrogen project.

The partners, which signed a cooperation agreement on the implementation of the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor in December 2022, are developing a hydrogen supply infrastructure from Finland through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to Germany with the aim to connect the green energy production regions in Northern Europe with the main consumption centres in Central Europe.

The project is expected to be completed by 2030.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, in the United States, the renewable energy developer Solential Energy announced cooperation with Fort Wayne City Utilities for the development of the first floating solar array in the American Midwest.

The planned floating solar project will harness the power of the sun to generate clean energy on existing storm water retention lagoons, providing sustainable solutions for the community’s energy needs while promoting a greener future, Solential Energy said.

In times like these, when energy transition and decarbonisation are becoming more and more important, the shipping industry has to come together to reach its zero-emission fuel goal.

On that note, this week the members of the European Parliament gathered and formally approved the new EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) law, earmarking around EUR 2 billion of the revenues of the Innovation Fund for the maritime industry.

European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) welcomed the move, saying that the deal will mark a turning point in the decarbonisation of the industry.  

Staying in the maritime sector, Global towage operator Svitzer, a part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, signed an MoU with Caterpillar Marine to adopt solutions that enable Svitzer to utilise methanol in their fleet.

Under the partnership, the duo plans to work on the installation of dual-fuel methanol engines on new tugs as well as conversions of existing Cat^® powered tugs, which comprise the majority of Svitzer’s fleet.