Orsted has inaugurated the 900MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms off Taiwan.
The two offshore wind farms are in operation and fully connected to the grid, doubling Taiwan’s offshore wind capacity.
Hosted at Orsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung, guests at the inauguration ceremony included President Tsai Ing-wen, Shen Jong-chin, Senior Advisor to the President, Wang Mei-hua, Minister of Economic Affairs, dignitaries of foreign offices in Taipei, representatives from the wind farm investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Cathay Private Equity (Cathay PE), local suppliers, and financial institutions.
From Orsted it included Mads Nipper, Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Harnett, Chief Operating Officer, Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC, and Christy Wang, General Manager Taiwan.
President Tsai thanked Orsted for investing in Taiwan and bringing renewable technologies to Taiwan.
She recalled that eight years ago, she went to see the first two demonstration wind turbines at Formosa 1, which is located off the coast of Miaoli County.
Soon after that, Orsted came to Taiwan and started further development of Formosa 1 and the 128MW project, which was inaugurated in 2019, became Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.
She 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.
Nipper said: “With today’s inauguration, we’re celebrating a landmark achievement for Ørsted and for Taiwan. 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.”
In 2024, Orsted has 7.6GW of offshore wind projects under construction worldwide, including its next big project in Taiwan, the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4.
Orsted began offshore construction in March 2021 and recently announced the successful installation of all 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines, which are now supplying renewable energy to Taiwan’s electricity grid.
The 605.2MW offshore wind farm Greater Changhua 1 is co-owned by Orsted (50%) and Mercury Taiwan Holdings, a consortium of CDPQ, a global investment group, and Cathay PE, with a combined ownership stake of 50%.
The 294.8MW Greater Changhua 2a is 100% owned by Orsted.
Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure at CDPQ, said: “Today’s inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 Offshore Wind Farm marks a significant milestone for Taiwan and for our collaboration with Orsted and Cathay PE.”