Ørsted and Changhua County Government teams up to establish local offshore wind power network

On 6 March, Ørsted and Changhua County Government held a local supplier event with nearly 100 local companies participating. Ørsted had invited DWP System Supplier (formerly DJURS Wind Power), a network for offshore wind industry players in Denmark, to share best practice of how Ørsted collaborates with local suppliers in Denmark. The Industrial Development & Investment Promotion Committee of Changhua County (IDIPC) will collaborate with DWP System Supplier to copy the successful practice to Changhua with the aim of establishing a local offshore wind suppliers network.

At the event, Ørsted and Changhua County Government extended their invitation to Changhua's local industries from various fields, including life services throughout the wind farm construction, operation and maintenance phases. This could be catering, hospitality and transportation – services that are needed from the initial stage of construction, including medical insurance, legal and financial consultancy, tool manufacturing, electricity-related factory construction, onshore and offshore engineering, etc. Ørsted and its contractor detailed the procurement demands of each phase for local companies to understand the substantial business opportunity brought by offshore wind.

Matthias Bausenwein, Ørsted's General Manager Asia Pacific and Chairman Taiwan, elaborated: "Ørsted's four Greater Changhua projects will be located 35 to 60km from the coastline. Once we secure the grid capacity and permits in the first half of this year, we hope to sign an EPC contact for the first onshore substation in the third quarter and start construction next year. The onshore substation EPC contract value for one project is more than NT$ 3 billion. Our EPC contractors will definitely look for local builders and suppliers to deliver the construction. We look forward to having more local SMEs join the offshore wind power industry and share in the vast business opportunity."

Lene Skovsgaard Sørensen, General Manager, DWP System Supplier: "Ørsted has supported us to establish the supplier platform since their Anholt offshore wind farm debut in 2010, setting up a mechanism for local SMEs to communicate directly with Ørsted. Since then, Ørsted and its contractors have placed orders worth NT$ 3 billion and created over 1,000 job opportunities through this platform. We're delighted to assist Changhua County in building a similar wind power platform to flourish in this industry."

Andreas Bachmann Toft, Sales Manager of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), stated: "Ørsted has been an important client for SGRE for many years, including on the world's largest offshore wind power plant, the Hornsea Project Two in the UK. The promising potential of the Taiwanese offshore market combined with our positive experience with the government has encouraged us to intensify our efforts. We look forward to developing the local supply chain in Changhua."

Wei Ming Ku, Changhua County Magistrate, said: "We're dedicated to setting up 1,000 offshore wind turbines off the coast of Changhua, the key development area of Taiwan's offshore wind power. Meanwhile, Changhua is also the heart of traditional manufacturing such as hardware and machinery. We expect IDIPC to establish our own offshore wind suppliers network in Changhua, bridging more experienced SMEs to form a strong supply chain and generate more value and job opportunities along the way."

Ørsted, the global offshore wind leader, has over 25 years of development experience, having installed more than 1,000 wind turbines offshore worldwide. Ørsted is the world's biggest operator of offshore wind farms with more than 8GW in operation or under construction. The Greater Changhua offshore wind projects include four sites located 35 to 60km off the Changhua coast. The total capacity is expected to be 2.4GW, which could power 2.8 million households in Taiwan.