Denmark-based offshore wind farm developer Orsted has begun trial runs of six offshore wind turbines at Formosa 1 offshore wind farm 2-6km off the west coast of central Taiwan, according to Swancor Renewable Energy.
Orsted is the developer of Formosa 1. It holds a 35% stake in the offshore wind farm, which is also invested by Japan-based JERA (32.5%), Australia-based Macquarie Capital (25%) and Swancor (7.5%).
Formosa 1 has total installation capacity of 128MW, with two 4MW offshore wind turbines already installed in the first phase in October 2016 and another 20 (6MW each) being installed in the second phase. Orsted has so far installed 10 offshore wind turbines, of which six ones have come into trial run.
Each of the ofshore wind turbines has to undergo 10- to 14-day trial run to test power-generating conditions before going into commercial operation, Orsted Taiwan said, adding installation of the remaining 10 offshore wind turbines will soon be completed and trial runs will begin over the next two months. The 20 offshore wind turbines are produced by Spain-based Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, it said.
The trial runs mark a milestone for offshore wind power generation in Taiwan, said Matthias Bausenwein, Asia Pacific president and Taiwan chairman for Orsted.
Formosa 1 will come into full operation by year-end 2019, generating electricity to meet demand by 128,000 households.
