Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy today held a launch ceremony with local government authorities and wind industry partners in Taiwan for what will be the company’s first offshore nacelle assembly facility outside of Europe. Construction is due to begin in 2020 at the site located in the port of Taichung. This represents an important milestone for the company in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. Siemens Gamesa currently has offshore nacelle assembly and manufacturing facilities in Germany and Denmark.
The parcel of land being developed in Taiwan
measures over 30,000 square meters, and will be used for nacelle
assembly, testing, warehousing, office buildings, and outdoor storage.
Siemens Gamesa is also working closely with Taiwan International Ports
Corporation (TIPC) to establish inbound and outbound logistics in
newly-established quaysides nearby.
“Our strategic investment in
Taichung harbor with this nacelle assembly facility continues as
previously communicated. Doing so ahead of the local content requirement
timeframe demonstrates our confidence in the long-term potential of
offshore wind power for Taiwan and other APAC markets. The strong
foothold we are building here will enable us to better meet our
customers’ needs in this market and in other parts of the region,” says
Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Offshore Business Unit in SGRE.
Construction
is planned to begin in 2020, and production in 2021. The facility will
then support Ørsted’s 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a project, for
which the SG 8.0-167 DD turbine will be used. In later years, it will
provide an option for the supply of nacelles to other regional projects.
“Thanks
to this nacelle assembly facility, we will be creating more
opportunities of working with the growing localized supplier network as
well as developing a skilled offshore workforce. All these efforts will
contribute to building a competitive local supply chain, in line with
international standards in terms of safety, costs, quality, and making
Taiwan a leading offshore market,” says Niels Steenberg, General Manager
of Siemens Gamesa Offshore for Asia-Pacific.
The long-term
collaboration between SGRE and TIPC was first officialized in December
2017 via a Memorandum of Understanding. Both parties agreed to cooperate
towards developing Taichung harbor for the offshore wind power
industry.
In 2016, Siemens Gamesa erected Taiwan’s first two
offshore turbines composing the 8 MW Formosa 1 Phase 1 project. The
company is currently installing the subsequent phase, the 120 MW Formosa
1 Phase 2 project. This is Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore
wind power project, and features 20 SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines. Siemens
Gamesa has signed contracts in Asia Pacific for close to 2 GW of
offshore wind power projects for the years to come, including 1.5 GW of
confirmed orders.
