Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Onshore Substations Switched On

Ørsted and Star Energy Corporation (SEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation, have switched on the two onshore substations for the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan.

Following the first power in late April, the eneregisation of the 900 MW onshore substations located in Changhua Coastal Park marks the completion of the onshore construction for the project as the installation of its 111 offshore wind turbines continues off the coast of Changhua County.

With an investment of NTD 7 billion (approximately EUR 225 million), the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Star Energy includes two substations and a 3.7-kilometre culvert box that allows ventilation and protection of the cables.

Ørsted pointed out that Taiwanese suppliers participated in various scope of the EPC contract, from civil engineering, reactors, cable laying, equipment installation all the way to provision of air conditioning equipment. 

The offshore wind developer also noted that throughout the project construction 1.7 million hours without a recordable incident have been achieved for the entire onshore substation project. 

“For the past three years, our teams have worked closely with Star Energy and over a dozen of local subcontractors, to turn an area of desolate land into Taiwan’s first offshore wind transmission hub meeting international offshore wind QHSE standards”, said Christy Wang, General Manager of Ørsted in Taiwan.

“The collaboration with Ørsted on the onshore substation and onshore transmission system was Star Energy’s first foray into the offshore industry, which was a critical decision to transform ourselves from inside out”, said Tsai Chin-Fa, Chairman of Star Energy. “Not only have we changed our mindset on QHSE, most importantly, we have also created partnerships with many local small and medium-sized enterprises, encouraging them to be part of Taiwan’s green energy transformation journey”.

Ørsted reached a final investment decision on the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind project in April 2019 and started construction in November of the same year.

Civil construction work for two onshore substations was completed at the end of December 2021 and the onshore substation for Greater Changhua 2a was energised the following month with the Greater Changhua 1 onshore substation following suit in March.

Located some 35 to 50 kilometres offshore Changhua County, the wind farms will comprise two offshore substations and 111 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2022.

Once fully up and running, Changhua 1 & 2a will be Taiwan’s first far offshore and large-scale offshore wind project.

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