First Turbine at Taiwan’s Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm Goes Live

Taiwan has achieved a major milestone in its offshore wind power ambitions after the first turbine at the Yunlin offshore wind farm went live with a capacity of 8 MW.

French energy and gas giant TotalEnergies announced the commencement of electricity generation from the windfarm, which is one of Taiwan’s largest projects. The new facility will have a total capacity of 640 MW from 80 turbines of 8 MW each.

Electricity generation from the first turbine comes after its commissioning and connecting to the grid early in November. The project has set a target to get a first batch of nine turbines into full operational mode by the year's end, a development that will result in generation of 270 GWh per year.

“Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic on construction activities, the combined efforts of all stakeholders . . . made the start of electricity production from this offshore wind farm possible,” said Julien Pouget, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President Renewables. 

It also marks the first power from offshore wind for TotalEnergies since the company’s entry into the sector in 2019. The French company joined the project in May 2021 after acquiring a 23 percent stake in Yunlin Holding GmbH, the owner of the windfarm located off the coast of Taiwan. The majority owner and operator is WPD, a wind farm developer based in Germany.

The Yunlin project will be one of the largest wind farms in Taiwan. It is located approximately 125 miles southwest of Taipei and six miles offshore. The windfarm will consist of 80 Siemens 8 MW turbines.

Once on stream, the project will produce enough power to serve the needs of more than 600,000 households. The project has a 20-year guaranteed-price power purchase agreement with state-owned company Taipower.

Offshore wind power is expected to contribute significantly to Taiwan's objective of generating 20 percent of electricity through renewables by 2025. Its current total installed capacity is just 128 MW, generated by the Formosa 1 wind farm, but Taiwan is implementing multiple projects to ensure offshore wind becomes an integral part of the country’s energy mix. It has an ambitious target of installing 5.7 GW by 2025.

In August, Taiwanese authorities released plans for its next round of offshore wind project licensing covering the period 2026-2035, with approximately 1.5 GW of capacity to be awarded each year.