DNV has signed a contract with Intercontinental Wind Energy (IWE) to support the Taiwanese company’s diversification into offshore wind turbine jacket fabrication.
According to a press release from DNV, the company’s work scope will assist IWE towards Tier-1 supplier status for offshore wind in Taiwan and includes providing quality assurance and control, as well as related technical support to the turbine jacket manufacturer.
The IWE base is located at the hub of Intercontinental Phase I in the port of Kaohsiung and has a deep-water, heavy-weight cargo wharf for assembly and storage site for foundations. The company is looking at not only the Taiwanese but the global offshore wind market as well, with the aim of exporting Taiwan’s experience and products to the world.
Through the contract with DNV, the company plans to speed up their wind team’s learning and improve the quality and safety of processes and procedures for the planning and execution of future projects for offshore wind customers, DNV says.
Acting as the lead external consultant and providing advisory services, DNV’s main responsibilities will involve supporting the IWE project team and IWE customers, assisting in requests for proposals and preparing a training programme.
“Investing more in renewable energy and offshore wind is a global trend. We’re happy to have one of the international well-known advisors, DNV, to help achieve our ambition of providing safety and quality in our production process” , the chairperson of IWE, Liao Shih-Ming , said.
Brice Le Gallo , Vice President and Regional Director APAC, Energy Systems at DNV, said: “The contract also follows similar work we conducted for other customers to support localization efforts towards offshore project development and building up the local supply chain on Taiwan. The work for IWE will add to our understanding of how we can best assist local suppliers to maximize economic opportunities from offshore wind developments on Taiwan”.
DNV’s Head of Offshore Infrastructure Technology in Taiwan, Roger Chang, emphasised that the company’s experience in supporting local fabricators has led to more suppliers becoming Tier 1 vendors to back the build-up of the local supply chain in Taiwan as part of its offshore wind ambition and localisation requirement.