Seven Companies to Build 10 Wind Farms|離岸風電遴選公布 將創造兩萬工作機會

The economics ministry has announced that seven developers have won government contracts to build 10 offshore wind farms, which is likely to spur investments of NT$900 billion and create 20,000 jobs.


The Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced the winners of government contracts to build offshore wind farms. The seven winners include Taiwan Power Company, China Steel Corporation, Wpd Taiwan Energy Co. and Orsted A/S. They will build 10 offshore wind farms.

The first step is to get preparation permits by 2019. If preparation permits are not granted, then we will launch an elimination mechanism. Second, after the preparation permits are received, they have to obtain construction permits within two years. We have specific controls in place for this step.

Part of the capacity will be commissioned by 2020. The remaining will be commissioned between 2021 and 2025 for a total of 3,836 megawatts. Swancor Holding Co. and Wpd Taiwan Energy Co. will generate the part commissioned by 2020. The 10 offshore wind farms are Wpd Taiwan Energy Co.'s Liwei and Yunneng wind farm, Orsted A/S's Changhua southeast and Changhua southwest wind farms, Swancor Holding Co. and Macquarie Capital's Hainen No. 5 and No. 6 wind farms, Northland Power Inc.'s Hailong No. 2 wind farm, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' Zhangfang and Xidao wind farms, Taipower's Taipower wind farm and China Steel Corp.'s Zhongneng wind farm. Those developers who did not win contracts will still have the opportunity to participate in an auction in June to build the remaining capacity.

You are developing wind farms on a large scale, and you are committed to them for at least 20 years. This means even if the average international wind energy price falls over the next 20 years, our whole energy structure and finances will still be tied to wind power for the whole 20 years. All these are issues the government doesn't want to explain to us.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs says wind farms are an important part of the government's renewable energy plan. It hopes to establish an offshore wind capacity of 5.5 gigawatts by 2025. It estimates NT$962.5 billion will be invested. There will also be 20,000 jobs created and 10 million tons carbon emissions reduced a year.