Ørsted has decided to put on hold the 900 MW Changhua offshore wind projects in Taiwan for the moment, since the Bureau of Energy of Taiwan failed to issue a permit by 2 January 2018. The Danish energy group thus missed the deadline to sign a 2018 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the project. Uncertainties over the the 2019 feed-in tariff (proposed tariff of TWD 5,106/MWh, i.e. €145/MWh) and a proposed production cap of 3,600 full-load hours/year prompted the company to suspend the development of the projects.
In April 2018, Taiwan awarded Ørsted the right to develop 900 MW of offshore wind capacity in the greater Changhua area, to be connected to the grid in 2021. In June 2018, the company secured the approval for another 920 MW offshore wind capacity from its Greater Changhua sites, to be built in 2025. Since the Greater Changhua projects have a total potential offshore wind capacity of 2.4 GW, an additional 0.6 GW was expected to be secured in future auction rounds
Ørsted is concerned by the unstable political environment in Taiwan - Taiwan recently scrapped its target of having no nuclear power by 2025 - and may not use its additional permit to build more 920 MW of offshore wind in Greater Changhua by 2025. The expansion of the Formosa I (35% Orsted) from 8 MW to 128 MW, however, will proceed as planned in 2019.
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