MHI Vestas secures footprint in Taiwan with waterside manufacturing facility

MHI Vestas and developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have secured a 5,000m² site in zone 1 of Taichung Harbour adjacent to the pre-assembly quayside for CIP’s Changfang & Xidao offshore wind project.

The company plans to use the site for assembly activity for some of the projects it will deliver in Taiwan using its V174 technology.

The site is being leased from Fortune Extra High Voltage Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Fortune Electric, and will be prepared for MHI Vestas’ operations.

For certain MHI Vestas projects, turbine hub assembly is expected to be carried out on the site, as well as final nacelle-related assembly and testing.

Hub assembly activities at Fortune’s site will involve some of the offshore wind components made locally in Taiwan, including hub plates from Yeong Guan Energy Technology Group (YGG) and spinner covers from the Atech/Fassmer joint venture.

YGG and FACT are among the many Taiwanese suppliers producing offshore wind turbine components as beneficiaries from MHI Vestas and CIP’s world-leading sustainable localisation plan, which has been approved by Taiwanese authorities.

MHI Vestas Taiwan business director Maida Zahirovic said, “We are delighted to secure this centrally-located site from Fortune. The Fortune site is a suitable location for the manufacturing work MHI Vestas is bringing to Taiwan.”

The Fortune site comes with space for assembly of turbines, warehouse and office space, along with additional capacity for storage of components. The building is also equipped with overhead cranes and adequate land bearing capacity to transport large offshore wind turbine components around the site.

The lease agreement comes in the wake of multiple supply chain contracts that have been signed by MHI Vestas in Taiwan to meet the demand from CIP’s Changfang & Xidao project, including for local supply of blades, transformers, blade materials (including bonding glue, resin, and pultruded carbon plates), towers, switchgear, rotor hubs, hub plates, nacelle base frames, low voltage cabinets, UPS systems and PCM assembly.

At present, MHI Vestas is the only wind turbine manufacturer to procure blades, transformer, blade materials, switchgear, and cables from within Taiwan.