One of Taiwan’s largest offshore wind projects will call for more foreign offshore vendors and contractors to build or expand their facilities on the island.
Taiwan’s government is considering plans to boost local content for the next and largest phase of Canadian operator Northland Power’s planned large Hai Long offshore wind project.
Hai Long 3 is set to be a 512 megawatt scheme incorporating between 50 and 56 huge offshore wind turbines located in water depths of 24 to 55 metres, some 50 to 70 kilometres offshore Changhua county in western Taiwan.
The first two planned phases, Hai Long 2A and Hai Long 2B, are set to have capacity of 300MW and 232MW, respectively.
Taiwan-based industry sources said the Industrial Development Bureau of Energy is assessing the local supply chain for engineering, procurement and construction capacities as well as taking account of changes in the price of commodities — such as iron and steel — before deciding on the list of equipment and vendors needed for Hai Long 3.
“Local content is a major concern for the Taiwanese government,” said an official familiar with the matter, adding that an option for services needed for the project is for foreign contractors to establish manufacturing facilities in joint ventures with local entities.
After two years of discussion, Taiwan in April approved the local content plan for the Hai Long 2A and Hai Long 2B phases.
The government has endorsed a total of 27 items to the local supply chain, including jackets, towers, turbine components and blades.
These will constitute 60% of equipment needed for the project, with the remainder to be sourced globally.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy was recently granted permission to apply its huge 14MW turbines to the Hai Long project under the Hai Long 2A and Hai Long 2B programme.
The world’s biggest supplier of offshore wind turbines will consequently expand its assembly facility in Taichung by building a new factory.
In addition to supplying 14MW turbines to the Hai Long project, Siemens Gamesa will next year also begin delivering 8MW turbines to Orsted’s 900MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2 projects, also offshore Taiwan.
This follows Taiwan’s earlier naming of CSBC DEME Wind Engineering (CDWE) as the engineering, procurement, construction and installation contractor for the foundations, cabling, transportation and installation of turbines for the Hai Long 2 and Hai Long 3 wind project.
CDWE — a joint venture between Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC Corporation and Belgian contractor DEME Offshore — offered an average price of TWD2245 ($80) per megawatt hour through a tender process.
The Hai Long project is being developed by Northland on a 60% operating stake, with Singapore’s Yushan Energy on 40%.
Hai Long 2A, which is the first of a wider 1.044 gigawatt complex, is scheduled to connect to Taiwan’s grid in late 2025 or in 2026, with a final investment decision expected next year, a Northland spokesperson told Upstream.
Upstream previously reported that Taiwan’s government last year doubled its previously stated plans for the next stage of its offshore wind buildout, with a goal to add 10GW of extra capacity from 2026 to 2035.
The initial plan calls to boost the local offshore wind power capacity to 5.5GW in 2025 and further to 14.5GW by 2031.
Taiwan held two rounds of offshore wind allocation in 2018 to award seven companies a total 5.5GW capacity for the first stage of large-scale development between 2019 and 2025.
Source: https://www.upstreamonline.com/exclusive/taiwan-eyes-new-localisation-plan-for-hai-long-3-offshore-wind-project/2-1-1011265