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WPD Expands Its Position in the Taiwanese Wind Energy Market

Bremen, Germany - Taiwan is pursuing an ambitious plan to expand offshore wind energy and wants to get out of nuclear energy by 2025. This offers great opportunities for German and European companies to profit from the market development.

In this environment, the Bremen-based developer and operator of renewable energy projects, WPD, is optimizing and strengthening the structures of ongoing offshore projects and is also positioning itself more broadly for future tenders.

New shareholder for Yunlin project, Optimized construction schedule for Guanyin project saves costs and time

WPD AG has reached an important milestone with the sale of a 25 percent stake in Yunlin Holding GmbH, the owner of the 640 MW Yunlin offshore wind farm, to Thai Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO Group). With the completion of the transaction, WPD has, according to its own statements, once again been able to win a solvent and reliable partner for the project in addition to the Japanese Sojitz Group (27 percent). WPD will remain the largest shareholder of the project. The Yunlin project - one of the largest offshore projects in Asia - is located in the Taiwan Strait, about 8 km west of the Yunlin district coast. The project will be constructed in two phases and will be commissioned in late 2020 and the third quarter of 2021 respectively. A total of 80 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0 turbines will produce green electricity there.

Other important interim goals were also achieved at the 350 MW Guanyin project, WPD's second offshore project in Taiwan. Here, WPD has been able to optimize the construction schedule and make it more effective, and in addition to costs, has also gained time to meet deadlines to secure the 2020 tariff. WPD now expects the project to be installed within one year (2022). All major supply contracts have been adjusted accordingly to achieve this goal. Although WPD expects the supply contracts to be signed in the next few weeks, the project's realization ultimately depends on the granting of the last remaining permits in the summer, followed by the completion of the financing in the fourth quarter of 2020, WPD said.

MoU agreement signed for further tenders

With a view to future projects and tender rounds, WPD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Taiwan Green Power Co, Ltd. (TGP), an offshore developer belonging to the Taiwanese LeaLea Group. The partners intend to jointly develop the offshore wind farm site No. 28, which is expected to be part of the third tender round in Taiwan. The site of the project with a planned total capacity of up to 600 megawatts (MW) is located off the coast of Changhua in an area with excellent wind conditions. Through its development LeaLea has already received the EIA approval and built up a lot of local support for the project. The joint venture with wpd is expected to be the perfect fit as wpd is known as frontrunner for the involvement of local companies in Taiwan and is overperforming with regards to the localization rules.



Source: IWR Online, 04 May 2020

 


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