Orsted is moving into the construction phase of the 900MW Greater Changhua 1&2a offshore wind farm off Taiwan.

The developer has begun the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to prepare for cable laying and scour protection work to make ready the seabed for foundation installation.

Orsted will start export and array cable laying, installation of the offshore substations and foundations in 2021 and proceed with turbine installation next year.

Located 35-60km from the coastline of Changhua County, the two projects will be operational by 2022 to provide clean energy to 1 million households.

Orsted Asia Pacific president Matthias Bausenwein said: “With 30 years of experience and an end-to-end business model of developing, constructing, and operating offshore wind farms, Orsted has been committed since day one to helping Taiwan build first world-class offshore wind farms to provide clean energy and contribute to its energy transition goal.

“The commencement of offshore installation of the Greater Changhua 1&2a offshore wind farms signifies a landmark step towards achieving that goal of making Taiwan greener.”

In addition to offshore construction, Orsted has been preparing for the operations and maintenance (O&M) work since 2019 and established a local O&M team with 21 Taiwanese technicians, with four more expected to join in the near future.

The technicians will be based at Orsted’s new O&M base at the Port of Taichung starting 2022.

They will use the first Taiwan-flagged service operation vessel to perform O&M duties.