Danish renewable energy company Ørsted has officially inaugurated the 900MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms, located off the coast of Taiwan.

These installations have successfully doubled Taiwan's offshore wind power generation capabilities.

The inauguration event took place at Ørsted's operations and maintenance hub in the Port of Taichung.

Guests attending the event included Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-wen, and Minister of Economic Affairs, Wang Mei-hua. Also present were stakeholders from CDPQ and Cathay PE, local suppliers and financial institutions.

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.”

The journey to completion began in November 2019 with the construction of the onshore substation.

In December 2020, Ørsted divested a 50% stake in the Greater Changhua 1 wind farm to a consortium comprising CDPQ and Cathay PE.

This move was followed by the commencement of full-scale offshore construction in March 2021.

The initial phase of construction involved horizontal directional drilling at the wind farm site, which is located 35–60km off the coast of Changhua County.

The works were undertaken to prepare the site for cable installation and foundation setting.

By April 2022, the wind farms were generating their first power.

The Greater Changhua 2a wind farm, with 294.8MW of capacity, remains entirely under Ørsted's ownership.

The wind farms utilise 111 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 Direct Drive turbines, reflecting the latest in offshore wind technology.

Ørsted group president and CEO Mads Nipper said: “With today’s inauguration, we are 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 are also Taiwan’s first utility-scale far-shore wind farms and the largest of their kind in APAC [Asia-Pacific], reaffirming Taiwan as the frontrunner in the region.

“In 2024, Ørsted has a record 7.6GW of offshore wind projects under construction worldwide, including our next big project in Taiwan, the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4. We are committed to creating a world that runs entirely on green energy and enabling long-term benefits to the economies and societies where we operate.”