Taiwan awards over 1.6 GW offshore wind capacity

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has awarded 1,664 MW offshore wind capacity to two developers. Ørsted has won 920 MW capacity to be developed off the coast of Changhua, and Toronto-based Northland Power, in partnership with Yushan Energy, has been awarded 744 MW, which is split between two proposed offshore wind farms.

These awards add to both developers' success in the grid allocation for offshore wind capacity that took place in April, under Taiwan’s Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program.

Ørsted bid to develop its proposed projects at WD2,548 (US$83.5) per MWh. The company will now begin the process of obtaining the establishment permit and securing a feed-in-tariff by signing a power purchase agreement with Taipower. Subject to Ørsted taking a final investment decision, construction will commence in 2023, with commissioning expected in 2025.

The wind farms will be located in the Greater Changhua zone - four offshore wind sites located between 35 and 60km from the shore of Changhua County, west-central Taiwan - over which Ørsted has obtained site exclusivity. The zone has a total potential capacity of 2.4 GW. It received environmental impact assessment approval in February 2018.

This win brings the total capacity of the zone approved for development to 1.8 GW, to be commissioned between 2021 and 2025. Ørsted will enter the remaining 0.6 GW in future auction rounds. 

Northland Power's award comprises 232 MW to the Hai Long 2 offshore wind farm at TWD2,224.5 (US$72.9) per MWh and 512 MW to the Hai Long 3 offshore wind farm at TWD2,502.5 (US$82.0) per MWh. Subject to securing 20-year power purchase agreements, the company is also targeting 2025 for the commissioning of the projects.

Hai Long 2 and Hai Long 3 received environmental permits in early 2018 and development work is ongoing.  The developers are currently selecting the turbine supplier and negotiating construction contracts.

These awards add to, or demonstrate, the growing momentum of the offshore wind industry in Taiwan. The country's first commercial-scale offshore wind project, partially owned by Ørsted, reached financial close earlier this month. The aforementioned grid allocation in April greenlit the development of projects with 3.15 GW capacity, all which of scheduled to come online between 2021 and 2024.