The commissioning of the 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a has been delayed to 2023, according to Ørsted’s interim report for the first half of 2022.
The project was initially scheduled to be fully operational by the end of the year, but due to COVID-19-related delays, the commissioning of the wind farm is being pushed to 2023, Ørsted outlined in its latest report.
Offshore construction on the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms started in the summer of 2021 with the installation of the first wind turbine jacket foundation and the laying of the first export cable.
Since then, 95 jacket foundations and 48 out of 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167DD wind turbines have been installed at the project’s offshore construction site.
The jackets are installed by Heerema Marine Contractors’ heavy lift vessel Aegir , for which the company secured a contract back in 2019.
The vessel completed the foundation installation on Greater Changhua 2a in May and then moved on to do the same work on Greater Changhua 1.
Under the contract signed with Ørsted, Heerema Marine Contractors was also responsible for the installation of offshore substations at the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a which was completed in November 2021.
Seajack Scylla , a wind turbine installation vessel operated by Seajacks, part of Eneti Inc., is installing the Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines at the project site located 35-50 kilometres off the coast of Changhua County.
In April, the offshore wind farm produced its first power after the installation and energisation of the first batch of turbines.
The 605 MW Greater Changhua 1 wind farm is owned by Ørsted (50 per cent), and a consortium comprising Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Taiwanese private equity fund, Cathay PE (50 per cent).
The 295 MW Changhua 2a is solely owned by Ørsted.