Ørsted inaugurates 900MW offshore wind projects in Taiwan

With a combined 900MW capacity and three years since the start of offshore construction, the two projects are now both in operation and fully connected to the grid.

They are currently the largest operating offshore wind farms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Comprising 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines, the wind farms have doubled Taiwan’s offshore wind capacity and successfully catalysed the country’s offshore wind ecosystem, Ørsted said.

The 605MW Greater Changhua 1 offshore wind farm is co-owned by Ørsted (50 %) and Mercury Taiwan Holdings, a consortium of CDPQ, a global investment group, and Cathay PE, with a combined ownership stake of 50 %. The 295MW Greater Changhua 2a is 100 % owned by Ørsted.

They are part of Ørsted’s Greater Changhua offshore wind zone, which also comprises the 337MW Greater Changhua 2b, 570MW Greater Changhua 3 and 583MW Greater Changhua 4.

The zone has a combined capacity of approximately 2.4GW.

Ørsted said it is now focusing on the combined 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms, which are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

The inauguration of the two projects, which can produce enough renewable energy to power one million Taiwanese households a year,  took place at Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung.

“With today’s inauguration, we’re celebrating a landmark achievement for Ørsted and for Taiwan,” said Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted.

“Greater Changhua 1 and 2a are our first gigawatt-scale offshore wind farms outside of Europe. They’re also Taiwan’s first utility-scale far-shore wind farms and the largest of their kind in APAC, reaffirming Taiwan as the frontrunner in the region.”

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said: “It took us eight years to turn the words ‘energy transition’ in our policy papers into actual wind farms in operation. Taiwan now has Asia-Pacific’s largest offshore wind farm and our own offshore wind supply chain.” 

Ørsted, which has 7.6GW of offshore wind projects under construction worldwide, said Greater Changhua 1 and 2a has added NTD 402 billion worth of industrial value, or NTD 523 billion worth of economic value, to Taiwan’s economy.