Danish power company Ørsted has officially opened the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan, which have a total installed capacity of approximately 900MW.
The two Taiwanese offshore wind facilities, which are claimed to be the largest of their kind in the Asia-Pacific region, are fully connected to the grid and in operation.
Ørsted held the inauguration at its operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung with the participation of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and other dignitaries.
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.”
Located 35-60km off the coast of Changhua County, the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind projects are part of Ørsted’s Greater Changhua offshore wind zone, which has a total capacity of about 2.4GW.
The zone also includes Greater Changhua 2b, Greater Changhua 3, and Greater Changhua 4 offshore wind farms.
Ørsted and Mercury Taiwan co-own the 605.2MW Greater Changhua 1 offshore wind farm with an ownership stake of 50% each. Mercury Taiwan is a consortium of CDPQ and Cathay.
The 294.8MW Greater Changhua 2a project is fully owned by Ørsted.
Ørsted commenced the offshore construction of the wind projects in March 2021 and achieved the first power in April 2022.
The Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms will generate sufficient clean energy to deliver power to one million Taiwanese households per year.
Ørsted group president and CEO Mads Nipper said: “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.”
