Orsted has completed the first made-in-Taiwan wind turbine jacket foundation for the 900MW Greater Changhua 1&2a Offshore Wind Farms.
Sing Da Marine Structure (SDMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Steel Corporation, made the jacket, which passed all inspections.
Christy Wang, general manager of Orsted Taiwan, said: “We are delighted to see the first wind turbine jacket foundation delivered by our new supplier SDMS, which has gradually ramped up its capabilities and QHSE standards from scratch over the past three years.
“This is a remarkable journey for Orsted, SDMS, and local sub-suppliers, working hand-in-hand to achieve this milestone.
“The next step will be for SDMS to repeat this success and achieve serial fabrication on a large scale.
“Orsted is moving full speed ahead with constructing the Greater Changhua 1&2a Offshore Wind Farms and is scheduled to install the 100% Taiwan-made jacket foundations early next year.”
The wind turbine jacket foundations each weigh more than 1200 tonnes with a height of approximately 60-80 metres and comprise more than a thousand components.
The foundations are custom designed to meet the special weather and seabed conditions for the Greater Changhua 1&2a Offshore Wind Farms to ensure that they can last for at least 25-30 years.
Orsted worked with SDMS on the successful delivery of Taiwan’s first locally made transition piece mock-up in September 2019 to help the supplier in meeting global QHSE standards.
The developer also dispatched personnel to coach SDMS’ chain of 22 local sub-suppliers working at 30 different sites to train their high-level welders.