Siemens said it is seeking to collaborate with local wind farm developers to build the nation’s first offshore wind turbines in 2016, a company executive said.
Siemens is working with two companies to supply wind energy solutions, Siemens Taiwan president and chief executive officer Erdal Elver told reporters last week.
In October, two wind energy companies inked agreements with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to help build offshore wind turbines with a combined annual capacity of 300 megawatts by 2020.
The ministry said it would then extend the program to increase total offshore wind power capacity to 3,000 megawatts in 2030.
The first winning bid was from Formosa Wind Power Co Ltd (海洋風力發電), an offshore wind turbine maker belonging to Swancor Industry Co Ltd (上緯企業). The second winner was a venture created by Taiwan Generations Corp (永傳能源), Century Iron and Steel Industiral Co Ltd (世紀鋼構) and CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台船).
Siemens is the world’s biggest off-shore wind turbine solution provider and has helped install farms with capacity totaling 1,600 megawatts in the UK, Germany and the US.
Siemens Taiwan, which holds the energy sector as its top revenue source for last year, said revenue grew at a faster-than-expected pace of 4 percent annually in the last fiscal year to NT$15 billion after it landed a power supply order from a local contract chipmaker.
The last fiscal year ran from Oct. 1 last year through September this year.
The company originally predicted it would only grow its revenue at the same pace as GDP this year, which is expected to expand 1.74 percent year-on-year.
Siemens said it expects to increase its revenue at the same rate as GDP next year on the back of better economic recovery in Taiwan and more construction programs, primarily new transportation systems to be launched in Taoyuan, Taipei and Greater Kaohsiung, Elver said.
However, Siemens is targeting revenue growth at double GDP growth next year, he said.
Taiwan’ GDP is expected to grow by 2.59 percent annually based on a forecast from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
“Taiwan is still in a transition period. Certain industries are still in difficult times,” Elver said. “We believe next year will be a better year for certain industries such as the machine tool industry.”
The energy and industrial sectors would be the main driving forces next year, Elver said.
Electronic automation systems, and microcontrollers used in machine tools and motors are among industrial products provided by Siemens.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the