Wind farm planned for Taiwan Strait

Scotland-based energy company SeaEnergy Renewables has signed an agreement with the Taiwan Generations Corporation to build a 600MW wind farm off the west coast of Taiwan.

The Changhua Offshore Windfarm will be located in the Taiwan Strait off Changhua county, about 2.5km to 10km from the shore, in water depths up to 30m.

The project is expected to require a modest initial investment from both companies to complete studies that are required to gain regulatory consent from the Taiwanese government before construction can commence.

SeaEnergy Renewables developed and delivered the world’s first deep-water wind-farm development - the 10MW Beatrice offshore wind farm - which is owned and operated by Talisman Energy. The project involved the installation of two offshore 5MW wind turbines at water depths of 45m.

The company has also secured a 25 per cent interest in two joint ventures - with partners Scottish & Southern Energy (Airtricity) and RWE (npower) - to develop offshore wind farms with a total capacity of more than 1,800MW. Together with EDP Renewables, it has also made applications for sites to be awarded to it through the UK Offshore Round 3 process.

The Taiwan government has set a target of 15 per cent, or 8,450MW, of the country's electricity to be generated from renewable resources by 2025 and it believes that wind power could provide at least 3,000MW of that power.