Almost 40 per cent of the world's CO2 emissions come from the countries in East and South-East Asia, and it is expected that the emissions will increase in pace with the region's economic boom. From a climate perspective, renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels, should meet the region's growth and increasing energy demand.
The good news is that the prospects for more renewables in the region are promising. In 2015, more than half of the global investments in clean energy came from East and South-East Asia.
Increasing interest for offshore wind
For a long time, solar has dominated the East- and South East Asian clean investments. But, offshore wind power has attracted increasing interest in recent years.
In DONG Energy, we see good opportunities in the Asia-Pacific waters and are now establishing an office in Taiwan. Martin Neubert, our Chief Strategy Officer says:
"Offshore wind is about to become a truly global industry. We're building our pipeline of wind farm projects beyond 2020, and we see potential in the Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan is the most mature market at this stage, and that's why we'll start here."
Green power for 10 million people
Today, the Taiwanese are dependent on fossil fuel imports, but they plan to phase out black energy to obtain a sustainable energy mix over time. Taiwan has passed a comprehensive strategy for renewable energy in which offshore wind plays a key role.
Conditions for offshore wind are good in Taiwan, especially on the west coast. In addition, the high population density, and subsequently the high value of land, strengthens the economic argument to build offshore wind.
The government has set an ambitious target to install as much as 4GW of offshore wind by 2030. That corresponds to the annual power consumption of 10 million people.
Time will show exactly how much offshore wind power capacity will rise in the waters of Taiwan and in the rest of East and South-East Asia. In any case, in DONG Energy we are looking forward to offer our expertice.
