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Ørsted inaugurates the Asia-Pacific region’s largest offshore wind farms

Ørsted is proud to announce the inauguration of the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan.

With a total installed capacity of 900 MW, 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.

Today’s inauguration is a major milestone, as 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.

Hosted at Ørsted’s operations and maintenance hub at the Port of Taichung, guests at the inauguration ceremony included President Tsai Ing-wen, Shen Jong-chin, Senior Advisor to the President, Wang Mei-hua, Minister of Economic Affairs, dignitaries of foreign offices in Taipei, representatives from the wind farm investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Cathay Private Equity (Cathay PE), local suppliers, and financial institutions as well as Mads Nipper, Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted, Patrick Harnett, Chief Operating Officer at Ørsted, Per Mejnert Kristensen, CEO of Region APAC at Ørsted, and Christy Wang, General Manager Taiwan at Ørsted.

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 128 MW project, which was inaugurated in 2019 as Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. 

Today, she congratulated Ørsted once again for completing the 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms with the support of its investors, CDPQ and Cathay PE. This is currently the largest offshore wind project in the Asia-Pacific region.  

President Tsai Ing-wen says: “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, says: “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, says: “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 605.2 MW 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 294.8 MW Greater Changhua 2a is 100 % owned by Ørsted.

Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure at CDPQ, says: “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.”

Jeff Chang, Chair of Cathay PE, says: “Today’s event is of great significance to Taiwan’s energy transition, and Cathay PE is glad to be part of the achievement, contributing to Taiwan’s low-carbon future.”

The 900 MW 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 dedicated to delivering stable and large-scale renewable energy in Taiwan. The company is currently constructing its next large-scale project, the 920 MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms. Together with Taiwan’s first commercial offshore wind farm, Formosa 1 (128 MW), Ørsted is operating and constructing nearly 2 GW 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.

Ørsted in Taiwan and the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms:

Key milestones for the Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms:

Operational wind farms in Taiwan

Formosa 1

  • Ørsted is the biggest shareholder and co-owner of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, Formosa 1, which was extended from a capacity of 8 MW to 128 MW in 2019.

Greater Changhua 1 and 2a

  • The Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms are located 35-60 km off the coast of Changhua County, have a capacity of approx. 900 MW, and can provide renewable energy to one million households.
  • The 605 MW Greater Changhua 1 is co-owned by Ørsted (50 %) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Cathay PE, with a combined ownership stake of 50 %.
  • Greater Changhua 1 hosts the world-first pilot ReCoral by ØrstedTM, a project that sets out to discover whether offshore wind turbine foundations could provide an additional new home where corals have the potential to flourish.

Wind farms under construction

Greater Changhua 2b and 4

  • Ørsted was awarded the 920 MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in June 2018. A corporate power purchase agreement was signed with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) in July 2020. The Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Development projects

  • Ørsted is developing a leading portfolio of offshore wind sites and has secured approvals of environmental impact assessments for them that can compete in future tenders in Taiwan.
  • The development projects include the Xu Feng and Greater Changhua 3 projects located off the coast of Changhua County as well as the Wo Neng projects situated off the coast of Taichung.

As the world leader in offshore wind, Ørsted has installed more than 1,900 offshore wind turbines at sea. By the end of 2023, Ørsted had 8.9 GW of offshore wind capacity installed, 6.7 GW of capacity under construction, and a further 3.7 GW of capacity awarded, resulting in a firm capacity of 19.2 GW. This aligns with the company’s ambition of reaching 35-38 GW in installed renewable energy capacity by the end of 2030.

The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities, and bioenergy plants. Ørsted is recognised on the CDP Climate Change A List as a global leader on climate action and was the first energy company in the world to have its science-based net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs approx. 8,900 people. Ørsted’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2023, the group’s revenue was DKK 79.3 billion (EUR 10.6 billion). Visit orsted.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and X.