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Royal Support for Sembcorp UK

Royal Support for Sembcorp UK's Green Efforts

His Royal Highness, The Duke of York, has pledged to “fight the corner” for Sembcorp and our customers in his travels around the world.

The Duke, who is the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, was speaking on July 17 at a visit to the Wilton International site in the UK, which has seen more than £1 billion of investment in the past ten years.

The new £64 million Sembcorp Biomass Power Station is the largest of its kind in the UK, using sustainable sources of wood to generate enough electricity to power a small town.

The Duke said: “What you do here is vital to the UK economy and some of the things I have learned in terms of your biomass renewable energy development and also the chemicals that are used on the site and the fact that the products the site makes go all over the UK and the world, has been fascinating.”

Introducing the Duke at the start of the visit, Mr Tang Kin Fei, Sembcorp Industries’ Group President & CEO, said that Sembcorp was “greatly honoured” by his presence and especially proud to show him the new renewable energy power station.

Poor weather failed to dampen royal enthusiasm and in the control room of the main power station, from which all the main utilities assets are controlled. The Duke signed a special visitor’s book and chatted with employees.

Jane Atkinson, Vice President Utilities Operations, who escorted the Duke around the station, said: “His Royal Highness was particularly interested in our biomass initiative and the fact that we were the first to develop such a facility in the UK.

Katy Ramirez, Utilities’ Performance Engineer, who joined Sembcorp as a chemical engineering graduate in 2006, spent several minutes talking to the Duke. She said: “He asked a lot of questions and was genuinely interested in what we were doing.”

Earlier, the Duke had visited Sembcorp’s Protection business and viewed an emergency exercise in the Major Emergency Control Centre, used regularly by all the site customers. He took a look at one of Sembcorp’s firefighting and spill protection vehicles, and watched as another carried out an impressive demonstration of its firepower.

Over lunch, George Ritchie, Senior Vice President for HR and IT, involved the Duke in a discussion with a number of local academics. Said George: “It was a stimulating discussion. We took the Duke through our plans to enhance science and engineering development and training over the next few years and it is good to know that the things we are trying to achieve have the support of the Duke and are being recognised at the highest level.”