On 21 July, Taipower and Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) officially signed an agreement on the development of three sites at the Port of Taichung, which will support offshore wind farm construction and O&M. Works already started on 11 June and are now well under way.
The country’s offshore wind developer signed a 20-year lease worth TWD 3 billion (approx. EUR 84.8 million) for a total of 12.8 hectares, comprising two wharves (5A, 5B) and hinterland (4C). Taipower will use the new port facilities for handling, assembling and storing wind turbine components during construction of its offshore wind projects, as well as for operations and maintenance of the company’s wind farms to be installed off Changhua County.
Taipower said that, aside from using the terminal for its own projects, the company will lease available facilities to other project developers in the future.
Work on Wharf 5A is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2019 and work on Wharf 5B is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020, according to TIPC.
Taipower plans to install 1,010MW of offshore wind capacity off Changhua County in Taiwan, divided into two project phases.
The first phase involves setting up a 110MW wind farm that would be operational by June 2020, with the development of the second phase with the capacity of 900MW scheduled to begin the same year.
In December 2016, Taipower and Changhua County Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the development of a series of renewable energy projects in the county, including 1,010MW of offshore wind.
Offshore WIND Staff