Aberdeen offshore firm proves Scotland's energy capabilities
Last updated: May 2024
Balmoral Comtec is an exemplar in Scotland's thriving energy transition sector, providing significant appeal to global markets through its innovative products. All thanks to support from Scottish Development International (SDI), the international arm of Scottish Enterprise.
With a history spanning more than four decades, Balmoral Comtec has a wealth of experience providing solutions for subsea projects in harsh deepwater environments – from the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil and West Africa. In recent years, the company has used this experience to successfully transition into the renewables sector, developing systems for fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind platforms.
The company demonstrates Scotland's strong capabilities and commercial opportunities in energy transition. Scotland is a top 10 player in the renewable energy market, offering a 30-year pipeline of major wind projects, also targeting 45GW of energy by 2035.
By focussing on renewables, Balmoral Comtec has been able to build on its longstanding relationship with SDI and take advantage of new opportunities.
SDI has supported the company to attract new global markets, particularly for its new HexDefence® scour protection system. HexDefence® integrates seabed protection and flow reduction to minimise offshore operational costs and potential cable failure.
Balmoral says its globally-patented system, that combats seabed scouring around fixed wind turbine structures, has attracted a lot of interest from developers. And this interest could offer potential to the globally-expanding offshore wind market, which is expected to surge to 630 Gigawatts (GW) by 2050, from 40 GW in 2020.
Balmoral is already proving Scotland's engineering capabilities to countries such as Brazil and Guyana, and the HexDefence® system offers scope to making the worldwide wind energy revolution more environmentally sustainable .
On a mission
A standout area of support for Balmoral Comtec has been SDI’s trade missions. SDI's programme of virtual and physical overseas missions to strategically important markets give Scottish companies the opportunity to learn about new markets and to connect with potential buyers.
“The SDI team is very good at setting up opportunities and getting the right people in a room,” said Ian Milne, Head of Business Development – Renewables for Balmoral Comtec. “Over the last four years, we have either physically or virtually been in the USA, France, Japan and South Korea. In Tokyo, we presented to a room of around 150 people.”
Ian also noted that a key aspect of support around the trade missions and follow-up meetings has been SDI’s translation services and unparalleled knowledge of the culture and how business is done in-region.
Ian Milne, Head of Business Development – Renewables for Balmoral Comtec
Making Scotland stand out
Balmoral Comtec’s Sales Director, Gary Yeoman, who attended the trade missions with Ian, commented: “Getting key people from industry together has been critical for us. They allow us to go somewhere that knows why Scotland offers so much, with a lot of focus that makes good use of our efforts, knowing that everything has been set up for us.”
“The trade missions have been vital to us, and I think they are of great benefit to every organisation that attends them,” he added.
Marion Murray, International Trade Specialist for SDI, said: “Internationally, Balmoral Comtec is an exemplar in its field. Balmoral Comtec is an extremely proactive and innovative company and it is a pleasure supporting them to showcase and promote some of Scotland’s leading edge technologies.”
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