President Tsai lauds inauguration of Changhua offshore wind farms

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday said a completed 900-megawatt (MW) capacity wind farm project off the coast of Changhua establishes a foundation for Taiwan to boost its competitiveness in the net-zero era.

Her remarks came at a ceremony held by Danish energy developer Ørsted in Taichung to mark the inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms, which she described as the largest in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.

In her speech, Tsai thanked Ørsted for its investments and for bringing renewable technology to Taiwan.

Since 2016, a total of 296 offshore wind turbines have been installed in the country, producing a combined capacity of 2.37 gigawatts (GW), Tsai said, with the number of offshore turbines expected to reach 300 this year.

The renewable energy generated by offshore wind farms will help lay the foundation for the competitiveness of Taiwan's industrial society in the coming net-zero era, she added.

It took the government eight years to turn the words "energy transition" in policy papers into operating wind farms, Tsai said, noting that Taiwan now has the largest offshore wind farm in the Asia-Pacific and its own domestic offshore wind supply chain.

Taiwan must move toward a cleaner and more sustainable future and so the country will continue to walk on this path, she said.

At the event, Ørsted President and CEO Mads Nipper said the inauguration of the Changhua wind farms is a landmark achievement for Ørsted and 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 [Asia Pacific], reaffirming Taiwan as the frontrunner in the region," Nipper said.

The company, which is headquartered in Denmark, was awarded the contract to build the first phase of a 900-MW capacity wind farm project 35-60 kilometers off the coast of Changhua in central Taiwan in 2018 .

According to an Ørsted press release, the offshore wind farms are in operation, fully connected to the grid, and can produce enough clean energy to power 1 million Taiwanese households a year, equivalent to an annual reduction of 1.75 million tons of carbon dioxide.