Swire Pacific’s Platform Supply Vessel Supporting Construction of Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm

Swire Pacific Offshore’s platform supply vessel (PSV) Pacific Hornbill has been deployed on the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind project in Taiwan to support the ongoing construction activities.

The vessel, which departed from the Port of Taichung to the project site on 16 August (according to the available AIS data), has been hired for the project under a collaboration agreement between Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) and Taiwanese marine engineering group International Ocean Group (IOG).

This marks the first stage of collaboration between the two companies to provide marine engineering services to the offshore wind industry in Taiwan, where their long term goal is to jointly bring more offshore supply vessels to the market, according to a press release from 17 August.

“Bringing world-class vessel assets into the Taiwan market is something we’ve already done with our CTV fleet and we’re delighted to do the same with the OSVs now”, said Ethan Wang, IOG’s Chief Operating Officer.

Pacific Hornbill is one of four H Class assets in SPO’s fleet of offshore support vessels and was built in Japan in 2012 by Japan Marine United (JMU). 

“Pacific Hornbill is designed with ample tank capacities, clear deck space of 1,000 m2, as well as an advanced dynamic positioning system, making her highly suited for a variety of platform supply duties and ancillary logistical requirements”, SPO states.

This is not the first vessel from Swire Pacific Offshore to be used in the offshore wind sector in Taiwan, as Dong Fang Offshore (DFO), a subsidiary of Hung Hua Construction, bought the company’s subsea multi-purpose vessel Pacific Constructor earlier this year to strengthen its fleet serving the offshore wind sector in Taiwan, as well as in the Asia Pacific region.

As for Ørsted’s 900 MW Changhua 1 & 2a project, construction work at the offshore wind farm sites some 35 to 50 kilometres off Changhua County is now well underway.

The second of the two offshore substation jacket foundations was installed last month and the installation of the pin piles for the wind turbine jacket foundations, which started in June, is currently in full swing.

Apart from the installation of the foundations, the construction activities this year will include export and array cable laying, and the installation of two offshore substations on top of their respective jackets.

The installation of the wind farm’s 111 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines is scheduled to start in 2022 and the wind farm is expected to be completed by the end of the same year.

The 605 MW Greater Changhua 1 wind farm is owned by Ørsted (50 per cent), and a consortium comprising Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Taiwanese private equity fund, Cathay PE (50 per cent), while the 295 MW Changhua 2a is owned solely by Ørsted.