International offshore wind consultancy firm OWC has appointed Tom Whittle to its newly created role of Asia Pacific regional director.
In 2018, OWC, an independent consultant offering project development services, owner’s engineering and technical due diligence to the offshore renewables sector, opened its first Asia Pacific office in Taiwan.
Today, the company also has offices in South Korea and Japan and has also been involved in project developments in Vietnam.
Will Cleverly, managing director of OWC said: "Tom’s remit is to continue growing our existing teams and establish new offices to support wind developers locally. Offshore wind is a rapidly growing industry in the Asia Pacific region, and international and regional developers operating here have welcomed our strategy of providing project development, owners engineering and technical due diligence services on the ground locally, supporting local industry development and value creation.”
According to the Global Wind Energy Council, Asia's share in the global offshore wind market expected to grow from 24 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2025 and for the rest of the decade. The council expects that the top five markets in the region for new installations over the next decade will be China (52GW), Taiwan (10.5GW), South Korea (7.9GW), Japan (7.4GW), and Vietnam (5.2GW).
Tom Whittle, previously OWC’s country manager in Taiwan, has worked as a project director, project manager and package manager on a number of offshore wind projects in the UK, Europe and Asia. He has experience in project development, floating wind, interface management, site investigations, foundation installation, cables installation, and offshore construction.
Whittle is also OWC’s floating wind lead and sits on the floating committee of the WFO – World Forum Offshore Wind.
“With Asia Pacific countries’ massive energy transition investment plans in both floating and fixed offshore wind, this is a highly exciting region. I am glad that OWC continues its strategy of building up presence and competence close to where our clients have their projects and we look forward to reinforcing our presence in the years to come,” says Tom Whittle, OWC’s Asia Pacific director.