45 July 2025 Success Stories
EIC Survive & Thrive 2025
EIC Survive & Thrive IX
159 1
Success Stories July 2025
Story type #innovation (main category) #diversification, #energy transition, #technology
Benefits
Siemens Energy (UK) A first, innovative venture into floating offshore wind
▸ First major venture into floating offshore wind for Siemens Energy subsea business ▸ 66kV connector planned to simplify installation, reduce costs and streamline long-term maintenance.
Key findings
George Mabey Key Account Manager
How is Siemens Energy (UK) thriving? Siemens Energy is a leader in oil and gas subsea connectors and is aiming to build on this in floating offshore wind by adapting its proven SpecTRON45 technology to a 66kV solution. Through significant investment, strategic requalification and expanded manufacturing capabilities, the company is leveraging decades of subsea expertise to support the growing renewable energy sector. This shift not only strengthens the company’s market position but also drives diversification, paving the way for future innovation in sustainable energy solutions. The challenge – With bases in England, Scotland, and Norway, Siemens Energy has long been recognised as a leader in subsea sensors, wet-mate connectors, and highvoltage distribution equipment. Its flagship wet-mate connector, SpecTRON45, had previously set the benchmark for high-voltage subsea applications, rated at 26/45(52) kV and designed with innovative features to enhance electrical field control and system flexibility. It was, at the time, the highestrated wet-mate connector in the world. Come 2020, however, and the company realised its product could be adapted and transformed for use in energy industries outside of oil and gas. Critically, it began to look at floating offshore wind – a sector that had garnered increasing attention during the pandemic period. Siemens Energy saw the potential to leverage its existing expertise in highvoltage subsea connections and set its sights on adapting its 45kV solution into a next-generation 66kV connector. The challenge lay in designing and manufacturing a solution capable of operating at 66kV while meeting the extreme demands of floating offshore wind farms, where turbines are installed at depths of up to 4,000 metres. The company needed to develop electrical and fibre optic
wet-mate connectors that could function reliably in these conditions, ensuring seamless high-voltage power transmission and data transfer in the harsh subsea environment. The solution – To tackle this, Siemens Energy embraced a ‘Knowledge, Understand, Do’ approach. By deepening its understanding of industry trends and customer requirements, the company could refine its engineering efforts to align with market needs. This was complemented by an agile development mindset within its engineering team – one that prioritised rapid iteration, learning from failures, and continuously refining designs to bring a robust 66kV solution to market. Rather than starting from scratch, the company focused on conducting a full suite of electrical tests to validate its performance at the higher voltage, ensuring that the core technology remained reliable while pushing its capabilities further. An increase of 21kV meant extensive testing and qualification, but the foundation was strong. SpecTRON45 had already demonstrated its robustness in the oil and gas industry since its initial development starting in 2010, offering a cost-effective, low-maintenance solution with a 25–30year lifespan. As the world’s highest-rated electrical wet-mate connector, it had also been the first system to be qualified under SEPS SP-1001, officially entering the market in 2019/2020 and being installed in a customer project by 2021. Bringing this technology to floating offshore wind also required an evolution in manufacturing capabilities. Siemens Energy made significant investments in its production facilities to handle the scale and complexity of the new connectors, ensuring the infrastructure was in place to support future growth. Testing for the 66kV solution began in the summer of 2023. Phase two of this has focused on further verification, ensuring full compliance with floating offshore wind standards ahead of a targeted market release in the second half of 2025. Siemens Energy has made significant investments in developing this solution, expanding its manufacturing footprint to
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accommodate anticipated demand. Supply chain management has also become a key focus, particularly in sourcing exotic materials and enhancing internal capabilities to meet production needs. However, these efforts are poised to reap substantial rewards. The development of the 66kV connector represents Siemens Energy’s strategic entry into a whole new market. While its wind business has long been an expert in fixed wind, this is the company’s first major venture into floating offshore wind. Here, the firm has been able to leverage its exceptional reputation in the subsea connector space, driving significant interest in its new 66kV solution. And as a result, the product is set to transform the floating offshore wind sector when it comes to market, simplifying installation, reducing costs and streamlining long-term maintenance. Success will be measured by rigorous testing, with final validation scheduled for June 2025 . If all goes as planned, Siemens Energy will be the first to market with a 66kV wet-mate connector, setting a new industry benchmark. With its development having started in Ulverston and production options set to meet floating wind projects, this latest product is testament to Siemens Energy’s ability to adapt, innovate, and lead. By redeploying oil and gas expertise into subsea renewables, the company is not only shaping the future of floating offshore wind but also redefining its own path forward in the energy transition.