Taiwan awards 3,158 MW offshore wind capacity

This article is part of a daily series of IPP articles. If you want to know more about the latest power generation projects globally visit our IPP Today section. You can receive them by email on a daily basis.

This week the results of Taiwan's latest offshore wind auction have emerged. A total capacity of 3.5 GW was available for allocation to developers. The process was extremely competitive, with projects submitted having a total generation capacity of more than 10 GW. The official results have not been published, however the majority of the capacity allocations are known thanks to announcements by the successful bidders.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has awarded Ørsted the right to connect 900 MW offshore wind capacity to Taiwan's power grid through the 605 MW Changhua 1 and 295 MW Changhua 2 projects. The wind farms will be located in the Taiwan Strait off Changhua County. 

Ørsted will now focus on obtaining the establishment permit and securing the feed-in-tariff (FIT) by signing a power purchase agreement with Taipower. The company expects to connect the two wind farms to the grid in 2021.

The Ministry has also awarded German developer wpd AG grid connection capacity for two offshore wind projects. The company plans to build the 708 MW Yunlin wind farm eight kilometres off the coast of Yunlin County in two phases, with 360 MW commencing operations in 2020 and the remaining 348 MW commissioned the following year. 

wpd's other project is the 350 MW Guanyin offshore wind farm. It is to be located two kilometres off the Taoyuan County and is scheduled to be commissioned in 2021.

Northland Power Inc. has announced that it has been allocated 300 MW for the Hai Long 2 offshore wind farm to connect to Taiwan’s grid in 2024. The company is developing the project in a 60-40 joint venture with Yushan Energy.

Hai Long 2 received its environmental permit in early 2018 and advanced development work is ongoing.  Project economics and financing details will be finalized as development progresses; selection of the turbine supplier and negotiation of construction contracts is underway. The developers are aiming to secure a 20-year power contract under Taiwan’s FIT regime.  

Lastly, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) has been allocated 600 MW for the projects Changfang and Xidao located 13-15 km of the coast of Changhua County, as well as 300 MW for Site 29 (also Changhua), which it will develop with partners China Steel Corporation and DGA.