At the inauguration ceremony for Taiwan’s first commercial scale offshore windfarm – Formosa 1 – the country’s President unveiled a new, more ambitious long-term goal for offshore wind energy
At the inauguration event, held at Longfeng Fishing Harbour in Miaoli on 12 November 2019, President Tsai announced a goal of another 10-GW of offshore wind by 2035 and asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs to bring forward policy proposals.
This was the first time the President had made a public statement on the country’s third round allocations. It’s stated goal until now has been 5.7 GW by 2025.
“Our green energy development can’t stop at the year 2025,” the President said. “I want to ask Economic Affairs Minister Shen Jong-Chin to formulate a regional development policy for offshore wind as soon as possible and propose a new goal for the next 10-year stage from 2026 to 2035, adding 10 GW during that period.”
The President said, “We want to attract more foreign companies to set up Asia Pacific operations in Taiwan, but we also want to make firms in the domestic supply chain more comfortable about investing.”
The President said she also wanted to “accelerate implementation of a smart grid” as the “central nervous system” supporting green energy development.
“We want to become a link in the international green energy supply chain and market Taiwanese products worldwide. After using the domestic market to develop expertise and using international capital while cooperating with experienced developers, we can look to Asia and set our sights on global markets, form national teams, and become part of green energy supply chains. The government will also use its finance and R&D support systems to help domestic vendors make money from green energy industries in the global market.”
Inauguration of Formosa 1 is an important milestone in the realization of Taiwan’s commitment to deliver 5.7 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2025. The project is a joint venture between Ørsted, JERA, Macquarie’s Green Investment Group and Swancor.
The 128-MW project was developed in two phases. The first phase, consisting of two 4-MW turbines, reached completion in October 2016. Phase two, completed in October 2019, saw the installation of 20 turbines with an output of 120 MW.
Ørsted Offshore chief executive Martin Neubert said, “Ørsted built the world’s first offshore windfarm in Denmark over 28 years ago. Since then, we have constructed more than 25 offshore windfarms. We are proud to inaugurate the first commercial-scale offshore windfarm in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
Ørsted Formosa 1 chairman and president of Ørsted Asia Pacific Matthias Bausenwein said inauguration of the windfarm “was a historic moment for all who participated in it,” and “a major milestone for Taiwan and for Ørsted in Asia.
“Beyond Formosa 1, Ørsted remains strongly committed to the green energy transition in Taiwan and is currently constructing the 900-MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a project with expected commissioning in 2022,” said Mr Bausenwein. “We have also been awarded an additional 920 MW for the Greater Changhua 2b & 4 project, which, subject to final investment decision, is expected to be completed in 2025.”
All of the turbines for the project had been installed by mid-October 2019, as work on the power cables and scour protection for the foundations. Formosa 1 produced power for the first time early in September 2019.
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