The Greater Changhua offshore wind farm projects are being developed at four sites in the Taiwan Strait, approximately 35km to 60km offshore Changhua County in Taiwan. The total power generation capacity of the wind farms is 2.4GW.
Greater Changhua offshore wind farms include Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms with 900MW capacity, Greater Changhua 2b and 4 wind farms with 920MW capacity and a future 600MW Greater Changhua 3 project.
Recommended White Papers
Recommended Buyers Guides
Danish energy company Orsted is the developer of the project. In 2021, the company sold a 50% stake in the Greater Changhua 1 wind farm to a consortium comprising global institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Taiwanese private equity fund Cathay Private Equity.
The Greater Changhua 2a wind farm produced first power in April 2022. The last turbines of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms are expected to be installed and commissioned by the first quarter of 2024.
The final investment decision (FID) on the Greater Changhua 2b and 4 projects was made in March 2023. Construction on the wind farms commenced in the third quarter of 2023 with commercial operation targeted for 2026.
Upon completion, the four Greater Changhua offshore wind farms will together form Taiwan’s largest wind power complex, which can power approximately 2.8 million Taiwanese households.
Greater Changhua offshore wind farm project development
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) approved the four planned offshore wind farm projects in February 2018. The company received approval from the Taiwanese Government to connect a 900MW wind capacity (Changhua 1 and 2a) to Taiwan’s national grid in April 2018.
The right to build the Changhua 2b and 4 projects was awarded in June 2018. Orsted reached the final investment decision (FID) on the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind projects in April 2019.
Onshore construction for the Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms started in November 2019, while offshore construction commenced in March 2021.
Orsted plans to participate in the forthcoming auctions for the Greater Changhua 3 project.
Details of Greater Changhua wind farms project
The 900MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms comprise Changhua 1 with a capacity of 605MW, located at a water depth between 34.4m and 44.1m across an area of 108.7km², and Changhua 2a with a capacity of 295MW.
Cable-laying vessel Nexus with 5,000t cable carousel capacity is laying 111 inter-array cables with a total length of approximately 135km and three export cables that are approximately 145km in length for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a project.
All the inter-array and export cables are protected by 235 NjordGuard cable protection systems and bellmouths. The cables are buried by Van Oord’s Dig-It trencher to the required depth.
The MV Lone, a dynamic positioning (DP2) installation vessel, is used for pile installation. A Taiwan-flagged service operation vessel (SOV) is deployed 35km to 60km off the coast of Changhua for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the four wind farms. The SOV can accommodate up to 60 technicians and the crew and operate at sea for 30 days.
Wind turbine details
The Asia-Pacific variant of the 8MW SG 8.0-167 DD offshore wind turbine is installed at the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms. It is designed to withstand typhoons, seismic activities, and high and low ambient temperatures.
The turbine has a rotor diameter of 167m with a swept area of 21,900m² and uses 81.4m-long SGRE B81 blades. Aegir fast sailing heavy lift vessel is installing 111 turbine foundations at a water depth of 30m-35m.
Transmission details of the Greater Changhua wind farms
Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms contain two offshore high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) transformer platforms and two onshore HVAC substations.
Construction of the two offshore substations comprising topside modules and jacket foundations was completed in September 2021.
The transmission lines of 66kV/220kV/161kV HVAC are laid for the Changhua 1 wind farm, which has two 55km-long, 230kV export cables laid from the offshore substation to the onshore landing point.
In addition, 4.35km-long 161kV export cables connect the onshore stations to the Taiwan Power Company-operated Chang One A substation grid point of connection in Changhua County.
Power supply details
Orsted signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Taipower to sell the electricity generated from the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farms in January 2019.
The feed-in tariff can be chosen between a 20-year flat tariff of TWD5,516 (approximately $178.8) per MWh or a tiered tariff of TWD6,279.5 (approximately $203.5) per MWh for the first ten years and TWD4,142.2 ($134.2) per MWh for the next ten years.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) partnered with Orsted to off-take full production of the electricity generated from Greater Changhua 2b and 4 wind farms for 20 years under a fixed-price contract signed in July 2020.
Contractors involved
Dredging company DEME was contracted to carry out seabed levelling and scour protection for the Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in October 2023.
Engineering company Seatrium was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the 600MW offshore substation for the Greater Changhua 2b and 4 wind farms.
Technical services provider PetroVietnam Technical Services was contracted to manufacture and supply foundations for Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in May 2023. The scope of the contract includes 33 suction bucket jacket (SBJ) foundations.
Keppel won a contract worth more than $150m for detailed EPC, testing and commissioning of two 600MW offshore wind farm substations in May 2019.
Ramboll designed the topside and substructure of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a wind farm substations, as well as executed the detailed design of the offshore switchyard in 2019.
Taiwan Cogeneration and Star Energy are responsible for the EPC of two onshore substations, cable corridors, landfalls and transition joint bays for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a project under a $227m contract signed in November 2018.
Siemens Gamesa is supplying the wind turbines while Heerema Marine Contractors is responsible for transporting and installing turbine foundations and two large offshore substations for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a project.
Van Oord was contracted for the cable installation works for all four wind farms while Trelleborg was contracted to supply the NjordGuard integrated cable protection system for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a project.
Ta San Shang Marine, a joint venture between Taiwan’s Ta Tong Marine and Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, is responsible for building and chartering SOV for the O&M of Greater Changhua offshore wind farms under a 15-year contract signed in April 2020.
Other contractors include VARD Singapore, Pulse Structural Monitoring (a subsidiary of Acteon), SAL Heavy Lift, Woen-Jinn, CSBC, EGST, Sing Da Marine Structure (a China Steel Corporation (CSC) subsidiary), Master Builders Solutions, TKF, Framo, Century Wind Power, Chunghwa Telecom, Ericsson and Allen & Overy.
