Taiwan offshore wind market is poised to witness multifold expansion to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel generation and build a cleaner sustainable power generation mixture, according to the data and analytics company GlobalData. The country is estimated to build around 15 GW of offshore wind capacity by end of 2035.

The offshore wind segment in Taiwan has become more active since 2019. GlobalData forecasts that the country’s offshore wind capacity is expected to reach over 4.5 GW by 2025, thereby expanding to 10.1 GW by 2030 and reaching more than 15 GW by 2035, thus becoming the largest offshore market after China in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Somik Das, senior power analyst at GlobalData said, “Taiwan has favourable conditions for offshore wind with wind speeds of almost 10-12 m/s in the Taiwan Strait. The country drew attention of several international wind developers and investors due to its commitment to the development of offshore wind energy. Amongst them are some EU-based companies, such as EnBW Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG, WPD offshore GmbH, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, and Denmark-based Orsted Ltd.”

To support clean energy, in 2016, the government announced to phase out nuclear power plants completely before 2025 and reach its target of 20% renewable energy supply by 2025. The move also helps to attain environmental sustainability and reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. With coal forming almost 48% of the generation mix, the nation was ranked third to last in the 2019 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).

Mr Das concluded, “Taiwan is blessed with high offshore potential, providing greater market size and stability, conducive policy environment, established Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) market, and project financing ease, which are predicted to act as the multipliers that will ensure Taiwan is presented as the most attractive offshore market in APAC region.”

Image: Maximilian Kaiser/Pixabay