Ørsted inaugurates Greater Changhua offshore wind farms in Taiwan

Ørsted has announced the inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan.

With a total installed capacity of 900MW, the two offshore wind farms are in operation and fully connected to the grid, making them the largest of their kind in Taiwan and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms have not only doubled Taiwan’s offshore wind capacity; they have also successfully catalysed Taiwan’s offshore wind ecosystem.

The inauguration was hosted at Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung.

President Tsai Ing-wen thanked Ørsted for investing in Taiwan and bringing renewable technologies to Taiwan. She 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 128MW project, which was inaugurated in 2019 as Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. 

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President Tsai Ing-wen said, "It took us eight years to turn the words 'energy transition' in our policy papers into actual wind farms in operation. 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, commented, “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’re committed to creating a world that runs entirely on green energy and enabling long-term benefits to the economies and societies where we operate.”

Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC at Ørsted, added, “Greater Changhua 1 and 2a is a flagship project of historic significance. This project has spearheaded the establishment of the local offshore wind industry as well as contributed significantly to Taiwan’s energy transition and net-zero goals. I’d like to express gratitude to the relentless efforts of our team and to the support from the authorities and our partners, suppliers, and contractors. We’ve built a strong talent pool, including our industry-first operations and maintenance ‘Taiwan team’, dedicated to ensuring a stable energy output for decades to come. Together, we look forward to delivering more world-class wind farms in Taiwan.”

Ørsted began offshore construction in March 2021 and recently announced the successful installation of all 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines, which are now supplying renewable energy to Taiwan’s electricity grid. The 605.2MW offshore wind farm 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 294.8MW Greater Changhua 2a is fully owned by Ørsted.

Emmanuel Jaclot, executive vice-president and head of infrastructure at CDPQ, said, “Today’s inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 Offshore Wind Farm marks a significant milestone for Taiwan and for our collaboration with Ørsted and Cathay PE. CDPQ is committed to advancing the energy transition in Asia Pacific, and we continue to explore investment opportunities in renewables and transition assets across the region.”

The 900MW wind farms inaugurated today are part of Ørsted’s Greater Changhua offshore wind zone, which also comprises Greater Changhua 2b, Greater Changhua 3, and Greater Changhua 4. The zone has a combined capacity of approximately 2.4 GW. Greater Changhua 1 and 2a alone can produce enough renewable energy to power one million Taiwanese households a year, equivalent to 1.75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide reductions annually.

Ørsted is currently constructing its next large-scale project, the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms. Together with Taiwan’s first commercial offshore wind farm, Formosa 1 (128MW), Ørsted is operating and constructing nearly 2GW of offshore wind capacity in Taiwan.

The day before the inauguration Ørsted announced its ’Green energy for Taiwan, powered by people‘ case study on the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms, which analyses the economic value for Taiwan as well as the long-term social and environmental benefits.