The Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm project of CIP announced today (25th) that the first offshore wind turbine blade locally produced by Tienli has passed inspection and verification, making the Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm the first wind farm to be adopting Taiwan-made wind turbine blades, which also advances the localization target of blades by two years.
Wind turbine blades are one of the components with the highest value and technical threshold for offshore wind farms. Aside from being essential indicators in the localization of offshore wind power for Taiwan, the significant technical content of wind turbine blades will also indirectly actuate industrial transformation and innovation, as well as facilitate development in the supply chain for blade materials such as carbon fiber, resin, adhesives, and fasteners.
The blades adopted for the wind turbines of the Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm are the Vestas 9.5MW V174-9.5TW made by Tienli at the 21-hectare plant at Taichung Port. Each blade measures at 85m (approx. a 26-floor building) in length and 35 tons in weight, and is currently the largest commercial offshore wind turbine blade in the world. Tienli is the only offshore wind turbine blade supplier for Vestas outside of Europe.
Dennis Sanou, CEO of the Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm, commented that the fruition of the first Taiwan-made wind turbine blade has proven the formation and potential of Taiwan’s wind turbine industry chain. Hsu Nai-wen, Managing Director of CIP Taiwan, commented that the government has set the implementation year for localization wind turbine blade as 2024, though CIP understands the key values of these blades, which is why the company placed an unprecedented order in advance by integrating the Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm with the Zhongneng Offshore Wind Farm. As a result, the first offshore wind turbine blade supplier in Asia-Pacific is formed outside of China, where Vestas and Tienli managed to achieve blade localization two years earlier.
As the only MW-grade wind turbine blade manufacturer in Taiwan, Tienli has invested more than NT$3 billion at the Taichung Port so far, and catalyzed the local supply chain for blade materials and peripherals. In addition, the company engages heavily in cultivating local Taiwanese talents in wind turbine blade technology, and dispatches personnel to Denmark to study relevant professional processes. Tienli managed to produce the first offshore wind turbine blade in Taiwan through investment and refinement on each aspect of hardware and software, and gradually overcame different challenges that were present during the early phase of plant establishment. The company has now significantly brought down the duration required for the production of each blade, and aims to accelerate mass production in order to fulfill the demand of the Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm and the Zhongneng Offshore Wind Farm.
(Cover photo source: CIP)