UK Mission Heads to Taiwan to Share Offshore Wind Know-How

A trade and technology mission from the UK is visiting Taiwan from 30 May to 1 June to share the UK’s experience on renewable energy, especially on the offshore wind energy industry.

With the largest ever number of UK renewable energy delegates to Taiwan, this mission is the first major event of the British Office’s 6-month “GREEN is GREAT” campaign, which kicked off on 22 April.

15 UK companies and 22 delegates are attending the 11th “UK-Taiwan Renewable Energy Conference” on 30 May, sharing their expertise on renewable energy.

This delegation is led by Huub den Rooijen, Director of Energy, Minerals & Infrastructure of The Crown Estate. The conference is in collaboration with the Bureau of Energy of Ministry of Economic Affairs, covering a wide range of subjects from cross government working, project insurance, marine engineering, geotechnical survey, risk assessment, operation and maintenance.

As Taiwan will have three offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 300MW by 2020, one Memorandum of Understanding is also signed at the conference, showing the deeper collaboration and mutual commitment between the UK and Taiwan for delivering successful offshore wind development in Taiwan.

During the 3-day visit, the delegation will also meet officials from Taiwan Power Company and key Taiwanese developers in the renewable energy industry in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

A UK Science and Innovation Network Offshore Wind Technology delegation will visit Taiwan to explore the potential for scientific and technological collaborations with leading Taiwanese research institutions. This delegation will focus on offshore wind innovation and research and will meet key research teams that are participating in Taiwan’s National Energy Progamme to explore collaboration opportunities with Taiwan, including via the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

The delegation will also meet with the new CEO of the National Energy Programme, Professor Yang Jing-tang. These UK delegates are from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, the Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering at the University of Strathclyde and the Carbon Trust.

The UK is already the world leader in offshore wind, with 5GW of capacity operating today, the largest in the world with continuous emphasis on technological innovation.

The UK is currently managing 28 offshore wind projects with 1,465 turbines with a total of 7.5GW of capacity by end of this year and 10GW by 2020, by which point offshore wind will supply between 8 and 10 percent of the UK’s electricity annually.

Renewable energy is a remarkable economic driver in the UK, more than 1 million jobs have so far been created in renewable energy and the total industry is worth GBP 117 billion. The UK is also one of the world’s most attractive countries to invest in renewable energy projects.

Photos: British Office Taipei