BlueFloat Bolsters Taiwan Floating Offshore Wind Ties

October 7, 2024, by Adnan Memija

BlueFloat Energy has signed agreements with the Ship and Ocean Industries R&D Center (SOIC) and the CR Classification Society to advance development in Taiwan’s floating offshore wind sector. Additionally, the company formalized a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with National Taiwan University’s Ocean Center for a study on its Winds of September project.

BlueFloat said these agreements focus on designing and analyzing floating offshore wind systems tailored to Taiwan’s unique environmental conditions.

Building on the initial collaboration launched last year, BlueFloat Energy and SOIC further deepened their partnership by signing an agreement on “Design and Analysis of Floating Offshore Wind System for Specific Taiwanese Environments“, involving also CR.

The agreement aims to address the challenges posed by Taiwan’s marine environment and regulatory framework by conducting studies on the region’s geography, climate, and specific requirements for floating offshore wind.

The results of this research will inform the Employer Requirements for the system design in the context of the upcoming Floating Wind Demonstration Program in Taiwan.

“Offshore wind development offers enormous economic benefits for Taiwan. Each project can attract significant investment, potentially exceeding NT$100 billion depending on its scale“, said Clément Mochet, Acting Executive Vice President Asia at BlueFloat Energy.

“We believe that launching floating demonstrations by the end of 2024 is ideal for advancing Taiwan floating wind development, which will help focus on determining how to deploy various aspects of floating wind technology, in order to assess local supply chain capabilities, and effectively accelerate the subsequent cost-reduction through future commercial phase.”

Additionally, BlueFloat has partnered with National Taiwan University’s Ocean Center (NTUOC) to conduct a morpho-dynamic study for its Winds of September Phase 1.

If approved and built, the 180 MW project would become the first floating wind farm in Taiwan.

“In August, we just announced that the “Winds of September Project – Phase I” located off the coast of Hsinchu City, will install up to 12 floating platforms with an expected installed capacity of 180 MW. We will continue to prepare for the upcoming demo tender, expected to be launched later this year, and look forward to bringing innovation to Taiwan”, said Michael Pinkerton, BlueFloat Energy Country Manager for Taiwan.

In January this year, the company announced that its 1 GW Winds of September floating wind project passed the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) committee review.