Ministry finally accepts Hailong wind farm plan‘LONG JOURNEY’: The firm said that it looks forward to delivering on its commitments, after many meetings on how the local supply chain could benefit from the projectBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterAfter more than two years of negotiations with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the 300 megawatt (MW) Hailong Offshore Wind 2A (海龍離岸風電) farm off the coast of Changhua County has finally come up with a plan that meets the ministry’s local content requirements. “This will be an ‘anchor project’ that pushes forward the development of Taiwan into an export hub for the wind energy supply chain for the [Asia-Pacific] region.”Hailong plans to work with partners Siemens Gamesa and CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co Ltd (台船環海風電) on the project. They have said that the practice leads to cost overruns and there are not enough local suppliers that meet the exacting standards for making offshore wind turbine components. Earlier this month, Cristina Lobillo Borrero, director for energy policy strategy and coordination at the European Commission, asked whether Taiwan’s local content policy might be in contravention of WTO rules. She also said that the policy is bad for Taiwan’s energy users.

Source: Taipei Times April 13, 2021 15:56 UTC