Report: Hitachi and China Steel Form Offshore Wind Partnership in Taiwan

Tokyo-based Hitachi Ltd. is expanding its offshore wind business abroad through a partnership with Taiwanese steel maker China Steel Corporation, Nikkei Asian Review reports.

The two companies are expected to start collaborating on offshore wind-related projects this autumn.

Hitachi will be in charge of providing wind turbines with a capacity of up to 5MW which will possibly be made locally in Taiwan.

The turbines will feature a downwind rotor system which is reportedly sturdier and able to withstand harsher weather conditions such as typhoons which occur off the coast of Taiwan.

China Steel’s role in this partnership will be to provide engineering, procurement and construction services on potential projects.

Hitachi expects this partnership to bring the company between JPY 20 and 30 billion (EUR 176 – 264 million) in annual sales in Taiwan.

Taiwan plans to install three offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 300MW by 2020, and to achieve at least 3GW of total installed offshore wind capacity by the year 2025. The country’s first offshore wind farm, the 130MW Formosa I, is scheduled for commissioning in 2019.

According to the country’s Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan’s offshore wind energy projects are expected to attract TWD 2.5 billion (EUR 70 million) of fresh investments in 2016 and a total of TWD 670 billion of new investments by 2030.

Offshore WIND Staff