A fleet of high-capacity floating power stations is heading to Singapore for a major engineering refit. Under a new deal, marine engineering firm Seatrium will convert and assemble five next-generation “Whale Class” vessels for Turkey-based operator Karpowership. The ships act as mobile power plants, built to supply electricity directly into national grids from coastal waters.

Work on the engineering designs has already begun. The first hull is scheduled to berth at Seatrium’s Tuas Boulevard Yard in December 2027, where technicians will install power hardware, complete mechanical systems, and run pre-commissioning tests.

Floating plants are increasingly used to bypass the long construction timelines of onshore power stations. Karpowership builds its vessels with a plug-and-play architecture, allowing them to hook into coastal substations and start generating electricity within 30 days of arrival.

The Whale Class represents the operator’s largest design so far. Each vessel is engineered to deploy up to 600 megawatts of electricity. To put that in perspective, a single ship produces enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

The design also addresses the shift toward cleaner fuels. The vessels carry multi-fuel generation machinery designed to run on conventional marine fuels, natural gas, or hydrogen blends without requiring structural rebuilding. 

High-efficiency layouts ensure fuel moves continuously through the generation train while onboard substations handle step-up transformation for direct transmission ashore.

The agreement expands a working partnership between the two companies that began in 2018. Over that period, Seatrium has delivered seven floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) to Karpowership, with work on two more vessels already secured.

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