Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 19 2021

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Taiwan reveals 15 GW of new

offshore wind plans

TAIWAN TAIWAN has unveiled ambitious plans to build plans.
15 GW of new offshore wind between 2026 and Both the BoE and IDB, which are part of the
2035, with annual additions set at 1.5 GW. Ministry of Economic Affairs, have stressed that
This amounts to a 50% increase on previous any single project can only be awarded 500 MW
plans, which had called for 1 GW of new capac- per year, plus additional 100 MW of capacity.
ity, or 10 GW in total, during the 10-year period. To qualify for the auction, projects must have
The new targets were contained in the Bureau agreement to the site (including nine opinion
of Energy (BoE) and the Industrial Develop- letters), EIA (conditional) and Taipower Grid
ment’s Bureau (IDB) latest draft regulations for Feasibility, according to Raoul Kubitschek, man-
the country’s third offshore wind bidding round, aging director at Niras, who also shared a list of
which were published this week. potential Round 3 offshore wind farms.
The two bodies said that the first bidding In its first two offshore wind auctions held in
round for an initial 3 GW of capacity, which April and June 2018, Taiwan awarded 5.5 GW of
would come online in 2026 and 2027, would be capacity, which is set to be completed by 2025.
held in June 2022. This new 15 GW of capacity comes on top of
This would be the start of a regular pattern, existing plans announced in June 2020 to hold
with auctions in 2023 for capacity set to open in three offshore wind auctions by 2023 that would
2028 and 2029, and more bidding rounds in 2024 offer 5.5 GW of offshore capacity.
for capacity that would enter operation in 2030 Therefore, the government now aims to have
and 2031. 20.5 GW of new capacity by 2023, compared
However, exact dates for the wind farm with previous plans for 15.5 GW.
to come online between and 2035 would be Taiwan’s increased targets compared favoura-
decided later. bly with those of its neighbours and competitors.
The rules state that the selection of bids in the Japan has set a 10-GW offshore goal for 2030,
first stage would be based on technical aspects while South Korea is aiming to install 12 GW by
(60%), financing (40%), as well as supply chain the same date.™

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