Offshore Trend Market Taiwan: Ørsted Awards Record Contract

The world's leading offshore wind farm developer Ørsted from Denmark has awarded Sing Da Marine Structure Corporation (SDMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Steel Corporation (CSC), a contract worth several hundred million dollars.

In 2020 and 2021, SDMS is to supply 56 jacket foundations for Ørsted's first major Taiwanese project, Greater Changhua. The 900 MW project will be installed in 2021. This is the largest order of its kind in the world. SDMS will first have to expand its production facilities at Sing Da Harbour in Kaohsiung.

Matthias Bausenwein, Ørsted’s President for Asia Pacific, said: "Foundations are an essential part of building offshore wind power plants in Taiwan, not least due to the extraordinary demanding site conditions in the Taiwan strait. For our Greater Changhua projects, we will have to use Jacket foundations, weighing over 1,100 ton and reaching a height of approximately 75 meters. Such large structures will require outstanding fabrication performance as well as excellence in the execution phase during installation. We are very pleased to have found a strong partner who is capable of developing such skills and we look forward to executing our projects, jointly with SDMS, in a brand-new fabrication plant especially designed for manufacturing jacket foundations. Today’s contract is just a beginning of our long-term partnership since SDMS is considered as one of the preferred suppliers for our future projects which will be built in 2025."

A jacket structure on the way to the open sea (Image: Ørsted)

Ørsted is thus consistently continuing its line of building local supply structures and transferring the knowledge gained in Europe to the Taiwanese market.