Taiwan’s biggest offshore wind farm generates first power

Located 35-60 kilometres off Taiwan’s west coast, Greater Changhua 1 & 2a has a total capacity of 900 MW, making it the largest and first far-shore wind farm in Taiwan. Once completed, the wind farm will significantly support Taiwan’s fast-track build-out of renewables and provide the green energy much needed by export industries and by Taiwan to achieve its net-zero goal. 

Christy Wang, General Manager of Ørsted Taiwan, says: “Delivering the first power as scheduled is a major milestone for both Ørsted and Taiwan. Since the 900 MW capacity was first awarded to Ørsted in April 2018 through the grid allocation process, our team has spared no efforts to develop and construct Greater Changhua 1 & 2a and achieve first power only four years later.”

Christy Wang adds: “This has not been an easy task, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic challenges during the past two years. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for all the support from government agencies, local and international suppliers, as well as local stakeholders.”

The first power was delivered as scheduled with the installation and energisation of the first batch of offshore wind turbines. The electricity was transferred to Ørsted’s onshore substations via array cables, offshore substations, and export cables. The renewable energy was fed into the national grid via Taipower’s substation. A total of 111 Siemens Gamesa 8.0-167 DD wind turbines will be installed at Changhua 1 & 2a, which will produce enough power to cover the power consumption of a million Taiwanese households. 

Frida Persson, Co-CEO of the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farm, says: “The successful generation of first power builds on Ørsted’s extensive offshore construction experience and a fantastic team effort. Leveraging our outstanding technical capabilities, we have overcome the challenges of the unique site conditions and weather in the Taiwan Strait. We are proud of the team we have built, encompassing thousands of people from multiple leading Taiwanese and international contractors from across the globe. We are determined to complete construction this year, meeting all quality, health, safety, and environmental (QHSE) standards and fulfilling our environment impact assessment commitments.”

Ulrik Lange, Co-CEO of the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farm, says: “Managing the risks of the key component fabrication, vessel mobilisation, and installation of the offshore wind farm has been imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have given the highest priority to optimised planning, risk mitigation, and adapting to challenges in this full-scale offshore wind construction project. Our entire team is focused on delivering the remaining construction work safely and on quality.”

The 900 MW offshore wind construction project continues at full speed. Meanwhile, Ørsted’s operations and maintenance (O&M) team is getting ready to take over and ensure optimal performance of the wind farm, which will provide stable and clean energy during its more than 25-year lifetime.  

About Ørsted in Taiwan 

Operational projects

• Ørsted is the major shareholder and co-owner of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, Formosa 1, which was extended from 8 MW to 128 MW in 2019.

Construction projects

• The Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farm located 35-60 kilometres off the coast of Changhua County and has a capacity of approx. 900 MW. The construction of the offshore wind farm will be finalised in 2022. 

Development projects

• Ørsted was awarded the right to build the 920 MW Greater Changhua 2b & 4 Offshore Wind Farm in June 2018 and signed a corporate power purchase agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) in July 2020. The Greater Changhua 2b & 4 Offshore Wind Farm will become operational in 2025 and fully commissioned in 2026, subject to grid availability and Ørsted’s final investment decision.
• Ørsted has started the environmental impact assessments of the Xu Feng 1, 2 and 3 projects, which are located 37-62 kilometres off the coast of Changhua County with a total potential capacity of 2.1 GW, and the Wo Neng 1 and 2 offshore wind projects, which are located 42 kilometres off the coast of Taichung with a potential capacity of 3 GW. Ørsted will utilise the Xu Feng and Wo Neng projects and the 570 MW Greater Changhua 3 project that has already obtained EIA approval to take an active role within the coming zonal development.

As the world leader in offshore wind, Ørsted has installed more than 1,600 offshore wind turbines with an installed offshore wind capacity of 7.6 GW and 3.4 GW more under construction (including Greater Changhua 1 & 2a). It is Ørsted’s ambition to install a total of 30 GW offshore wind capacity worldwide by 2030.