Wison Has Been Building a U.S. Presence for 17 Years. At OTC 2026, It Made Itself Known

Exec-Edge

Wed, May 20, 2026 at 12:59 PM EDT 6 min read

By Exec Edge Editorial Staff

The Offshore Technology Conference in Houston is where the global offshore energy industry takes stock of itself — where companies stake claims, signal ambitions, and compete for the attention of the developers, financiers and procurement officers who control the next generation of projects. Around the OTC 2026 event earlier this month, Wison New Energies marked three achievements that, taken together, describe a company that has spent a decade and a half building toward this moment.

Wison received its first U.S. patent in floating wind technology for the proprietary “w.semi” offshore wind turbine platform.

Shortly after OTC concluded, Wison announced it had received its first U.S. patent in floating wind technology: Patent No. 12,606,278 B2, covering the proprietary “w.semi” floating offshore wind turbine platform. During the conference itself, Lloyd’s Register granted Wison an Approval in Principle for its Harsh Environment Internal Turret FPSO design, designated RD234, following an independent concept-stage safety review. Also at OTC, Dr. Weimin Chen, Director of Offshore Wind at Wison New Energies, delivered a peer-reviewed technical paper comparing floating wind platform configurations for very large turbines. 

These accomplishments are the product of a deliberate, long-running strategy to be a key part of the American market through technology partnerships, U.S.-held intellectual property and relationships with some of the most recognized names in the U.S. energy industry. 

An American Foundation: Horton, Baker Hughes, and Chart Industries 

Wison’s U.S. roots date to 2009, when the company entered a joint venture with deepwater engineering pioneer Ed Horton to form Horton Wison Deepwater, Inc. (HWD), a Houston-based entity. The venture combined Horton’s extensive deepwater platform patent portfolio with Wison’s fabrication capacity, and in 2012 produced a tangible result: the CX-15, the world’s first Buoyant Tower drilling and production platform, designed by HWD, fabricated at Wison’s Nantong yard, and installed offshore Peru.  

The joint venture was later renamed Wison Offshore Technology, Inc. (WOT), which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wison in 2016. Through WOT, Wison consolidated Horton-origin offshore engineering capabilities, including Buoyant Towertechnology and a related portfolio of more than 130 American-registered patents, supporting its continued development in floating energy solutions and connecting directly to the floating wind work Dr. Chen presented at OTC 2026.