Danish offshore wind developer Orsted has successfully generated the first power from the Greater Changhua offshore wind project in Taiwan. The project marks Orsted’s first large-scale offshore wind farm in the Asia Pacific, the company announced on Thursday. Orsted described the project as a “big achievement” and the largest offshore wind project in Taiwan.
According to Orsted, the project has a total capacity of 900 MW, making it the largest and the country’s first offshore wind farm. Once completed, the wind farm will play a major role in Taiwan’s fast-track implementation of renewables and provide the green power export industry needs, as well as Taiwan’s net-zero target.
“Delivering the first power as scheduled is a major milestone for both Orsted and Taiwan. Since the 900 MW capacity was first awarded to Orsted 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,” said Christy Wang, General Manager of Orsted Taiwan adding that “this has not been an easy task, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic challenges during the past two years.”
The 900 MW offshore wind construction project continues at full speed. Meanwhile, Orsted’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.
The company expects to complete the project later this year. According to Orsted, the facility will eventually be able to supply power to 1 million households in Taiwan.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said in a report published earlier this month that “China led the world in annual offshore wind installations for the fourth year in a row.” However, the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the report, caused disruptions in 2021 noting that “Taiwan should have commissioned more than 1 GW of offshore wind capacity from three projects last year based on the project COD plans, but only the 109 MW Changhua demonstration came online in the end.”
