Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 04 2023

AsiaElec WIND AsiaElec

Taiwan’s Hai Long wind farm

faces financial woes

Multinational consortium working with local banks and shareholders

TAIWAN ONE of Taiwan’s most prominent planned wind acquire 49% of Northland’s interests in the pro-
installations in recent years, the Hai Long Offshore ject, although the deal will only be finalised once
Wind (HLOW), to be sited in waters off the east of financial closure is achieved.
the East Asian nation’s main island, is struggling The deal will leave Gentari with a 29.4% stake
to finance its operations, according to reports in in the project.
local media and local sources in the wind industry. When first agreed in 2016, the project was a
Reports from a number of media outlets joint Canadian-Taiwanese deal, with Northland
indicate that the consortium behind the project Power owning 60% of the project, and 40% for
is currently struggling to reach financial closure Yushan Energy.
ahead of construction starting. Japan’s Mitsui & Co. later purchased half of
The 1.04-GW facility wind farm that will be the Yushan Energy stake.
located in the waters off Changhua County in A press release issued by HLOW’s senior PR
the Taiwan Strait is expected to start producing manager said: “The remainder of the project
power in 2026, providing construction, initially financing is expected to be loaned by local finan-
scheduled to begin in 2024, gets the go-ahead. cial institutions, as some banks are still under
If completed on time it will be one of the larg- careful evaluation.”
est wind farms in Taiwan. Renewable energy projects across Taiwan
The consortium behind the project com- have come under increased scrutiny in recent
prises foreign firms Northland Power, a Cana- weeks, especially with the ruling Democratic
dian power producer, Gentari International Progressive Party adhering to its long-held
Renewables, a wholly owned Petronas subsid- anti-nuclear policies, and power cuts no longer
iary, and Japan’s Mitsui & Co., in addition to deemed headline worthy.
domestic Taiwanese offshore energy developer “The No. 2 reactor at Guosheng nuclear
Yushan Energy. power plant is set to stop operation in March
Financial issues faced by the group were made next year, while the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of
public earlier in the month when a local English the Ma-anshan nuclear power plant are to close
language news blog, Taiwan News, claimed that in 2024 and 2025 respectively, when they are The remainder
“Twenty local and foreign banks face credit risk due to reach the end of their operational lives of
after an offshore wind farm developer sought about 40 years,” a Taipei Times report concluded of the project
a financial lifeline to cut its debt by NT$10bn after a press conference with Taiwan’s Minister
($326mn) when the high-profile project was of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua in summer financing is
delayed for two years.” 2022.
In response, HLOW issued a press release Without nuclear energy, Taiwan’s energy mix expected to
saying it is now working towards financial clo- will be heavily reliant on fossil fuels, primarily be loaned by
sure with financing coming by way of a number gas and coal, which currently provides over 80%
of international financial bodies, in addition to of all energy on the island. local financial
utilising funds deposited by shareholders. Renewable energy, meanwhile, still accounts
Internally, however, it is understood that for less than 10% of all power supplied to the institutions.
ahead of the first financial woes being made national grid and is predicted to fall well short
public, Gentari International Renewables of the 20% target by 2025 set by President Tsai
reached agreement with Northland Power to Ing-wen in 2016.™

Week 04 26 •January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9