Ørsted Inaugurates the Asia-Pacific Region’s Largest Offshore Wind Farms
ON&T
Inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms. From the left: 1. Kuo Tsi-san, Deputy Director of Economic and Renewable Energy Development Department. Changhua County 2. Christy Wang, Chair of Ørsted Taiwan 3. Lee Chun-li, Deputy Director General, Energy Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs 4. Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC at Ørsted 5. Wang Mei-hua, Minister of Economic Affairs 6. Mads Nipper, Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted 7. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen 8. Patrick Harnett, Chief Operating Officer at Ørsted 9. Shen Jong-chin, Senior Advisor to the President 10. John Faye, Chair of Mercury Taiwan Holdings Limited 11. Lee Chang-ken, President, Cathay Financial Holdings 12. Jeff Chang, Chair of Cathay PE 13. Chou Yu-hsin, Deputy Director General of Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs (Image credit: Ørsted)
With a total installed capacity of 900 MW, the two offshore wind farms are in operation and fully connected to the grid, making them the largest of their kind in Taiwan and in the Asia-Pacific region.
The inauguration is a major milestone, as the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms have not only doubled Taiwan’s offshore wind capacity; they have also successfully catalyzed Taiwan’s offshore wind ecosystem.
Hosted at Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung, guests at the inauguration ceremony included President Tsai Ing-wen, Shen Jong-chin, Senior Advisor to the President, Wang Mei-hua, Minister of Economic Affairs, dignitaries of foreign offices in Taipei, representatives from the wind farm investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Cathay Private Equity (Cathay PE), local suppliers, and financial institutions as well as Mads Nipper, Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted, Patrick Harnett, Chief Operating Officer at Ørsted, Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC at Ørsted, and Christy Wang, General Manager Taiwan at Ørsted.
President Tsai Ing-wen thanked Ørsted for investing in Taiwan and bringing renewable technologies to Taiwan. She recalled that eight years ago, she went to see the first two demonstration wind turbines at Formosa 1, which is located off the coast of Miaoli County. Soon after that, Ørsted came to Taiwan and started further development of Formosa 1 and the 128 MW project, which was inaugurated in 2019 as Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.
President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Ørsted once again for completing the 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms with the support of its investors, CDPQ and Cathay PE. This is currently the largest offshore wind project in the Asia-Pacific region.
Ørsted began offshore construction in March 2021 and recently announced the successful installation of all 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines, which are now supplying renewable energy to Taiwan’s electricity grid. The 605.2 MW offshore wind farm Greater Changhua 1 is co-owned by Ørsted (50 %) and Mercury Taiwan Holdings, a consortium of CDPQ, a global investment group, and Cathay PE, with a combined ownership stake of 50 %. The 294.8 MW Greater Changhua 2a is 100 % owned by Ørsted.
