Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted has decided not to submit a bid in the first auction of the Round 3 Zonal Development Phase in Taiwan, citing limitations of regulations, high inflation, and growing interest rates.
Per Mejnert Kristensen, Head of Region Asia-Pacific at Ørsted said: “As the largest and most experienced offshore wind developer in Taiwan, we had to take stock of the limitations set by the current regulation, which in combination with high inflation and increasing interest rates led us to conclude, after exhausting all efforts, that we cannot make the projects investable at this stage.”
“Taiwan is, and continues to be, a strategic market for Ørsted, so it was not an easy decision for us to not bid this time. We want to stay in Taiwan for decades to develop, build, own and operate offshore wind farms. Therefore, we will continue our dialogues with the authorities about the framework conditions for future tenders, and will discuss with key suppliers and strategic partners to decide next steps.”
Ørsted expects to commission the last wind turbines at the 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farm in 2023 and is progressing the development of its next large-scale offshore wind farm in Taiwan, Greater Changhua 2b & 4 (920 MW), which the company was awarded the right to build in Taiwan’s first offshore wind auction in 2018.
Also, Ørsted said it was developing "a leading portfolio of offshore wind sites" that can compete in future tenders in Taiwan.
Ørsted is the largest shareholder (35%) of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, Formosa 1, which was extended from a capacity of 8 MW to 128 MW in 2019.