Taiwan begins construction of first offshore wind installation vessel

Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) A ceremony was held in Kaohsiung Wednesday to mark the beginning of work to build Taiwan's first heavy lift and installation vessel called "Green Jade," which will be used to transport materials for the development of offshore renewable energy in the country.

The vessel, a joint venture between Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC Corp. and Belgian offshore contractor DEME Wind Engineering Co. (CDWE), will be built at the CSBC shipyard in the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

The Green Jade is scheduled to be delivered in Q4 of 2022, CSBC Chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) said.

According to CSBC, the 216.5 meter ship will be equipped with 4,000-tonne crane capacity and a crew of up to 160.

It will be the first floating heavy lift and installation vessel to be built in Taiwan and have the capacity to transport and install the next generation of foundations and giant multi-megawatt wind turbines in the most cost-effective way.

Upon entering service, the Green Jade will be deployed to the Hai Long and Zhongneng offshore wind farm projects, which are located in Changhua County, the CSBC said.

Hai Long is a joint venture between Canadian power producer Northland Power Inc. and Singapore-based Yushan Energy Pte. Ltd., while Zhongneng is between Taiwan's China Steel Corp. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.