Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 01

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec
This means that only 1.82 GW of Ørsted’s planned capacity of 2.4 GW has firm plans in place. The Danish company expects to pick up the remaining 600 MW at future auction rounds held by the Taiwanese government.
Siemens Gamesa is the principle turbine sup- plier for these Ørsted projects.
Elsewhere in Taiwan, Ørsted is the co-owner of the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, Formosa 1, which was extended to 128 MW in 2019.
However, one problem faces by these pro- jects is the government’s recent 7.6% cut in feed- in-tariff (FiTs) to TWD5.0946 ($0.17) per kWh.
Ørsted and CIP’s sealed FiTs in 2019 at TWD5.5160 ($0.18) per kWh, which although higher still represents a fall from pervious years.
Falling tariffs is a major concern for current and future investors in Taiwanese wind projects, although the sheer scope of the projects on offer will compensate for tariff tightness.
Export support
Government support for wind turbine exports is part of Tokyo’s “infrastructure systems export strategy,” which aims to promote infrastructure exports in areas such as renewable and hydrogen.
The deal will increase Japanese companies’ ability to export wind turbines in the growing Asian market, a crucial strategy. Japan’s domes- tic market is far behind regional leaders Taiwan
and South Korea.
In the offshore wind market, MHI Vestas has
won orders for its 9.5-MW V174 model from Japan’s Hibikinada development, the country’s first large wind project offshore, as well as Ger- many’s Arcadis Ost 1 (Parkwind) and Baltic Eagle (Iberdrola) developments.
It also has 3,128.5 MW of firm and condi- tional orders for its V164 model, which ranges from 8 MW to 10 MW, from a range of projects in Europe and North America.
These designs are among the largest offshore turbines on the world market.
Asian opportunities
Indeed, global offshore wind installations could grow from 22.8 GW to 228 GW by 2030, accord- ing to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) figures. Asia, especially if China is ignored, has so far been a major laggard when compared to Europe and North America.
However, concerns about climate change, and the need for Asian economies to meet cli- mate goals, mean that the Asian market antici- pated to grow faster in future.
Europe has so far led the growth of offshore wind power, but Asia, where coal remains a major source of electricity, is set to offer consid- erable rapid growth to financiers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the com- ing years.™
Government
support to wind
turbine exports
is part of Tokyo’s
“infrastructure
systems export
strategy”
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