Seatrium X NUS Public Lectures

ABOUT

Seatrium Public Lectures

The Seatrium Professorship Gift Agreement was signed between the NUS College of Design and Engineering and Seatrium on 6 October 2023.

Under the Gift Agreement, Seatrium Professorships and Seatrium Visiting Professorships will be appointed to attract top talent in energy transition and sustainability to Singapore. The Agreement aims to promote knowledge transfer that leads to the development of innovative technology.

The Seatrium Public Lecture is a series of lectures, dialogues and workshops delivered by the Seatrium Professors, where academics and practitioners engage in constructive deliberations on the future of offshore renewables, decarbonization, and intelligent ocean systems.

To find out more, visit https://cde.nus.edu.sg/news-detail/mou-signed-to-establish-seatrium-professorship-at-cde/.

Upcoming Event

Date & Time

7 August 2025, 6:30pm – 8:30pm

VENUE

University Cultural Centre

50 Kent Ridge Cres, Singapore 119279

Title

OFFSHORE WIND - A Game Changer in Our Future Energy Supply

Modern wind turbine development started back in the eighties. In 40 years, the size and capacity of wind turbines have grown enormously. Offshore wind turbines with sizes of 15 MW are in commercial operation and the R&D community is currently working on prototypes close to 30MW. These gigantic machines, spinning with diameters of 300 m and beyond, are double the size of the Singapore Flyer. With huge sizes and capacities, new markets are exploring Floating Offshore Structures. Large floating offshore wind turbines are able to produce large amounts of renewable electricity and other molecule-based energy carriers. This facilitates large scale energy storage and provides an excellent opportunity to decarbonize the world's fossil fuel-based transport system. This lecture will pinpoint some of the key developments that made this upscaling possible. It will also provide an outlook how the world and Singapore can benefit from this new stage in wind energy technology.

Speaker

Em. Prof. dr.
Gerard van Bussel

Background
Em. Prof. dr. Gerard van Bussel is currently the Seatrium Professor at NUS. He held the Wind Energy Chair at TU Delft’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. He holds an MSc in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Wind Turbine Aerodynamics. With extensive experience in research, education, and project management, his research focused on rotor aerodynamics, offshore wind O&M, and advanced turbine design. He developed the wind energy education curriculum at TU Delft and the 3TU Sustainable Energy Technology MSc. programme. Prof. dr. Van Bussel has held research fellowships in Japan and served on the boards of the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE), WindEurope and the Netherlands Wind Energy Association (NWEA). He is an honorary member and one of the initiators of EAWE and of Wind Energy Science, the leading European Academic Journal.

Sharing by Visiting Seatrium Professor Dr Christopher Wiernecki

PAST EVENTS

Inaugural Seatrium Public Lecture

The Inaugural Seatrium Public Lecture was held on 23 February 2024. Dr Christopher Wiernicki, the Chairman and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping delivered his lecture on “What does the calculus of Net Zero by 2050 mean?”.

Dr Wiernicki is the first Visiting Seatrium Professor appointed under the Seatrium Professorship Gift Agreement between NUS and Seatrium. This Gift Agreement is designed to attract top talent in energy transition and sustainability to Singapore to promote knowledge transfer that will lead to the development of innovative technology.

With over 35 years of experience, Dr Wiernicki is a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, where he advises the White House on risk reduction and resilience in America’s infrastructure sectors. In 2023, he was also a member of the Maritime International Advisory Panel, established by the Ministry of Transport and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. That same year, he received the GREEN4SEA Leadership Award for his outstanding contributions to sustainability.

View the Inaugural Seatrium Public Lecture video

PAST EVENTS

What does the Long-Term Energy Future Hold?

This lecture will present the highlights of the 2024 DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook through to 2050. It will offer a regional perspective on Southeast Asia, and an industry perspective focusing on maritime. Nine of ten ASEAN countries have pledged to achieve net zero targets. The region’s expected decarbonization pathway to 2050 will be assessed. Maritime is a hard-to-electrify sector with uncertainties surrounding the availability of advanced biofuels and green hydrogen derived from fuels such as ammonia. Despite these uncertainties, it will be shown how the industry can best take positive steps towards decarbonization through efficiencies and cooperation around green shipping corridors along with a relatively newly introduced concept – carbon capture corridors. The lecture will also explore how digitalization and Artificial Intelligence could accelerate the much-needed decarbonization of our global energy system.

View the Seatrium Public Lecture: Mr Remi Eriksen video

Upcoming Lecture