Taiwan: MOEA Announces Incentive for Offshore Wind Power Development

In order to speed up offshore wind farm development, and to promote green energy economics, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has publicly announced the implementation of “The Incentive Program of Offshore Wind Power Demonstration System” on July 03, 2012, and officially declared to the world that Taiwan wind farm development has moved from onshore to offshore.

6 units of offshore wind turbines are scheduled to be established by 2015, and more than 300MW capacity of offshore wind farm to be installed by 2020. Total industry output value can reach more than NTD 48 billion (US$1.6 billion). In 2030, 600 units of offshore wind turbines will be installed in addition to 400 units of onshore wind turbines, and the total installed capacity can reach 4,200MW. The industry output value of wind power is estimated to reach more than NTD 500 billion (US$16.6 billion), which will stimulate Taiwan to develop toward a new green energy era and also progressing towards the goal of becoming a nuclear-free homeland.

According to MOEA, in addition to the 50% incentive fees for the installation of demonstration units provided through the Demonstration Incentive Program, NTD 2.5 hundred million (US$8.33 million) will also be subsidized for the demonstration wind farm development. The application for the incentive program will be accepted from the day of public announcement to Oct. 31, 2012. The demonstration incentive program is expected to stimulate a good kick off for the offshore wind farm development in Taiwan. 600 units of offshore wind turbines are scheduled to be completed by 2030, and the total installation capacity will be 3,000MW. Together with onshore units, more than 1,000 turbines can provide capacity of more than 33% of the renewable energy target. Eventually, wind energy will become one of the most important alternative energy resources for domestic power generation.

According to Director-General Mr. Jerry Ou of Bureau of Energy (BOE), 300 units of onshore wind turbines, or equivalently 585MW or installed capacity, have been installed by the end of June 2012, and will reach 450 units by 2020. In consideration of the facts that onshore wind farm development is almost fully saturated within the island, and Taiwan has been recognized and evaluated by the international organization 4C Offshore, that Taiwan has the best offshore wind resource in the world, BOE has decided to further develop the wind farms from onshore to offshore, so as to improve development and utilization of wind energy, and to learn experiences from offshore wind farms developed worldwide. The conditions of offshore wind farms in Taiwan are excellent, approximately 1,200MW can be developed for the water depth from 5~20 meters, and more than 5,000MW can be developed for the water depth from 20~50 meters,. MOEA has scheduled 300MW of new installation capacity will be increased each year right after the first pilot offshore demonstration unit is completed in 2015. By promoting the offshore wind farm development with larger scale in the deep water, the target of 3,000MW total installation capacity will eventually be reached by 2030.

The Director-General Jerry Ou of BOE further indicates that after the “Demonstration Incentive Program” announced publicly, they have received many phone calls from the industry. The staff will start processing the applications, of which the deadline is the end of Oct. 2012. By the end of Jan. 2013, applicant evaluation will be completed and finalized. By the end of Dec. 2014, the winning applicant should complete the Establishment Permit. By Sep. 2015, the foundation of offshore wind turbine demonstration units and subsea cable installation must be completed. Before the end of Dec. 2015, grid connection and commercial operation must be completed as scheduled.

In March, 2012, MOEA has established “Office of Thousand Wind Turbines Promotion”, of which the main task is to actively cooperate with related departments to exclude obstacles of regulations and to simplify the administration procedures. They will fully cooperate with the applicants and assist them in every aspect, in order to help them to begin with offshore wind farm development. Any applicant who has concerns about “Demonstration Incentive Program” is welcomed to contact “Office of Thousand Wind Turbines Promotion” for further information.

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Offshore WIND staff, August 30, 2012; Image: eon