The world’s largest developer of offshore wind farms Ørsted announced Tuesday it will proceed with building two wind farms offshore Taiwan as the country continues its push to attract investment in renewables.
Changhua 1 and 2a will be constructed in 2021 and 2022 , about 35-50 kilometers off the coast of Changhua County. The wind farms will have a capacity of approximately 900 megawatts enough to supply power to around 1 million Taiwanese households.
The project final investment decision (FID) comes after the two wind farms were put on hold earlier this year due to political uncertainty regarding feed-in tariffs.
Prior to the FID, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs approved Ørsted’s local supply chain plan, and subsequently Ørsted has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Taipower at the feed-in-tariff level announced on January 30, 2019, the company said.
Martin Neubert, Executive Vice President and CEO of Offshore at Ørsted, said, “Over the last couple of months, we have been working intensively to obtain establishment permit, renegotiate contracts, get our supply chain plan approved and sign the power purchase agreement. Thanks to a close and strong collaboration with our supply chain partners, Taipower and decision-makers in Taiwan, we have achieved all these milestones and can now take the final investment decision on this landmark project, which will be Taiwan’s largest offshore wind farm and demonstrate offshore wind’s potential to decarbonize energy systems in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
Matthias Bausenwein, President of Ørsted Asia-Pacific, said, “With the Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farm, which is the first under the localization rules to take final investment decision, Ørsted will invest significantly in Taiwan’s transition to renewable energy with substantial impact on local job creation and industrial development. We are proud that we have secured a very high level of local content on the project, and we will start the initial onshore works already next month.”
In April 2018, Taiwan awarded Ørsted the right to connect Changhua 1 and 2a to Taiwan’s power grid.
In June 2018, Ørsted was awarded the right to build another 920-megawatt offshore wind in Taiwan through its Changhua 2b and 4 sites. Changhua 2b and 4 are to be built in 2025, subject to Ørsted taking FID on the projects in 2023.
Ørsted’s Greater Changhua offshore wind sites have a total potential capacity of 2.4 gigawatts. With a total of approximately 1.8 gigawatts earmarked for buildout in 2021 and 2025, the remaining approximately 0.6 gigawatts can participate in future auction rounds.
Ørsted is also the co-owner of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, the 128-megawatt Formosa 1 offshore wind farm, which is currently under construction and is expected to be operational by end of 2019.
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