The inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms, on 25 April 2024, was seen as a major milestone by Ørsted as they “have not only doubled Taiwan’s offshore wind capacity, they have also successfully catalysed Taiwan’s offshore wind ecosystem.”

At the inauguration ceremony, held at Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, 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.”

“It took us eight years to turn the words ‘energy transition’ in our policy papers into actual wind farms in operation,” said President Tsai Ing-wen. “Taiwan now has Asia-Pacific’s largest offshore wind farm and our own offshore wind supply chain.”

Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, said: “With today’s inauguration, we’re celebrating a landmark achievement for Ørsted and for Taiwan. Greater Changhua 1 and 2a are our first gigawatt-scale offshore wind farms outside of Europe. They’re also Taiwan’s first utility-scale far-shore wind farms and the largest of their kind in APAC, reaffirming Taiwan as the frontrunner in the region. In 2024, Ørsted has a record 7.6 GW of offshore wind projects under construction worldwide, including our next big project in Taiwan, the 920 MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4.”

“We’ve built a strong talent pool,” said Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC at Ørsted, “including our industry-first operations and maintenance ‘Taiwan team’, dedicated to ensuring a stable energy output for decades to come.”

Ørsted began offshore construction in March 2021 for Greater Changhua 1 and 2a, which employ a total of 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines. The 605.2 MW 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.

The 900 MW of capacity inaugurated in April is part of Ørsted’s Greater Changhua offshore wind zone, which also includes Greater Changhua 2b, Greater Changhua 3, and Greater Changhua 4. The zone will eventually have a combined installed capacity of about 2.4 GW.

Construction is currently underway on the Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms, total installed capacity 920 MW. Together with Taiwan’s first commercial offshore wind farm, Formosa 1 (128 MW), Ørsted is operating and constructing nearly 2 GW of offshore wind capacity in Taiwan.

Key milestones for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms:

April 2018: Ørsted awarded 900 MW grid capacity for offshore wind.

April 2019: Ørsted took final investment decision on Changhua 1 and 2a.

December 2020: Ørsted brought in investors, CDPQ and Cathay PE, for Greater Changhua 1.

March 2021: Ørsted kicked off offshore installation.

February 2022: Onshore substations switched on.

April 2022: First power generated by Greater Changhua 1 and 2a.

August 2022: Inaugurated largest operations and maintenance hub in APAC.

August 2022: Completed foundation installation.

April 2024: First power from all 111 wind turbines.

25 April 2024: Inauguration of Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms.

Status of Ørsted wind farms in Taiwan

Operational

Formosa 1

  • Ørsted is the biggest shareholder and co-owner of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, Formosa 1, which was expanded from a capacity of 8 MW to 128 MW in 2019.

Greater Changhua 1 and 2a

  • The Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms are located 35-60 km off the coast of Changhua County. Installed capacity about 900 MW. The 605 MW Greater Changhua 1 is co-owned by Ørsted (50 %) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Cathay PE, with a combined ownership stake of 50 %.
  • Greater Changhua 1 hosts the world-first ReCoral pilot project, which sets out to discover whether offshore wind turbine foundations could provide an additional new location where coral flourish.

Wind farms under construction

Greater Changhua 2b and 4

  • Ørsted was awarded the 920 MW Great`er Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in June 2018. A corporate power purchase agreement was signed with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) in July 2020. The Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Development projects

  • Ørsted is developing a portfolio of offshore wind sites and has secured environmental impact assessment approvals for them, enabling them to compete in future tenders in Taiwan.
  • The development projects include the Xu Feng and Greater Changhua 3 projects located off the coast of Changhua County as well as the Wo Neng projects situated off the coast of Taichung.