Denmark-based offshore wind installation company Ørsted, said Friday it was kicking off full-scale offshore construction activities of the 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan.
Ørsted said it would start laying export and array cables and installing the offshore substations and foundations in 2021 and will proceed with wind turbine installation in 2022. Ørsted awarded the contract for the cable laying works on the project to Dutch Van Oord, back in 2019.
Located 35-60 km off the coast of Changhua County, the first large-scale and "farshore" offshore wind farms in Taiwan are scheduled to be finalized by 2022 and will provide clean energy to one million households.
Ørsted said it had kicked off the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to prepare for cable laying and scour protection works to make the seabed ready for foundation installation.
"Moreover, Ørsted is progressing well with onshore construction, including completing the civil works of the two onshore substation main buildings and the upgrade work of the hinterland at wharfs 36 and 37 at the Port of Taichung for storing key components for offshore installation," Ørsted said.
Ørsted said that the offshore construction would be supported by a wide range of marine engineering, vessels suppliers, and personnel "from home and abroad."
"It is estimated that during peak times, there will be more than 25 vessels mobilized, including crew transfer vessels, installation and support vessels, service operation vessels, and guard vessels as well as 500-800 people working at sea," the company said.
In addition to offshore construction, Ørsted said it has been preparing for the operations and maintenance (O&M) work since 2019 and established a local O&M team with 21 Taiwanese O&M technicians, with four more expected to join in the near future.
"These technicians are currently under intensive professional O&M training and will be based at Ørsted's new O&M base at the Port of Taichung starting 2022. From there, they will use the first Taiwan-flagged service operation vessel to perform their O&M duties, ensuring optimal performance of the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farm," the company said.