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Taiwan’s offshore wind power is ready to go. Germany’s RWE is also positioned aggressively as it is expected to deploy another 5 offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 5,850 MW in the future. At the same time, it has also announced an expanded strategic partnership with Asia Cement Corporation (ACC), a cement subsidiary of the Far Eastern Group, to jointly promote the development of offshore wind power in Taiwan.
In the third phase of Taiwan’s offshore wind power project, 15 GW of installed capacity is expected to be released between 2026 and 2035. In the first stage of selection, the government will release 3 GW of bidding capacity per year in the next three years with the upper limit of a single wind farm at 500 MW (can be increased by 100 MW) in each project. Moreover, each wind power company can only apply for one project with, at most, 1.8 GW of installation capacity allocated to any one developer in the first phase of a three-phase bidding process.
RWE plans to work with partners to develop new offshore wind power projects along the western coast of Taiwan at cities such as Hsinchu, Taichung and Changhua which include the 900 MW Xin-Feng, 950 MW Lai-Feng, 2.5GW Hai-Ann, 600 MW Lai-Chung and 900 MW Chang-Feng projects. The water depth in some areas is suitable for the development of floating offshore wind power and previous international experience derived from three full-scale floating demonstration units can be introduced.
RWE operates 17 offshore wind farms around the world and is the world's second offshore wind power developer after Ørsted. RWE set up an office in Taiwan in 2018 and has successfully developed the Chu-Feng offshore wind power project jointly with ACC with the total installed capacity expected to reach 448 MW.
Jens Orfelt, Asia Pacific Regional President of RWE Renewables and Director of Offshore Wind Development, stated that RWE is committed to contributing to Taiwan’s renewable energy goals. In light of RWE’s leading position in floating wind power generation and coupled with 20 years of development experience in completing a number of offshore wind power projects safely, on time, and within budget, RWE has an excellent advantage in supplying green power from offshore wind power. Through partnership with ACC, RWE will look at a number of new offshore wind power projects, further consolidate our renewable energy footprint in the Asia Pacific region, and lay the foundation for long-term investment in Taiwan.
Far Eastern Group Vice Chairman Peter Hsu indicated: “The alliance between ACC and RWE fully embodies the ‘best of both worlds.’ Local expertise combined with the experience of the world's leading offshore wind farm developer will provide the people of Taiwan with considerable renewable energy and, thereby, create a large number of green jobs. This is in line with ACC's plan to invest in renewable energy projects and to move our energy portfolio towards green energy.”
（Image：Flickr/Aleksandr Zykov CC BY 2.0）