Enercon GmbH, the largest wind turbine supplier in Germany, last week opened its Asia-Pacific operational hub in Taiwan, eyeing the nation’s booming renewable energy market.
The regional hub began operations on Friday and aims to invest about NT$8 billion (US$264.2 million) over the next 10 years to transform its Taipei office into a marketing center.
The budget will also be used for personnel training to turn the local office into a regional research and development and maintenance center for Enercon, the company said.
Enercon accounts for more than 60 percent of land-based wind turbines built in Taiwan. The firm has installed 213 land-based wind turbines with a capacity of 463 megawatts.
Ministry of Economic Affairs Department of Investment Services Director-General Wang Jien-ping (王劍平) said during the inauguration ceremony that Enercon’s presence is welcome.
Taiwan wants to take advantage of Enercon’s experience in wind energy development to advance its bid to become a center for renewable energy production, Wang said, adding that the 10-year investment plan was affirmed when the company signed a letter of intent with the ministry earlier this month.
Enercon Taiwan Ltd (台灣艾納康) managing director Bart Linssen said that Taiwan has great potential for land-based wind turbines and the company has set its sights on the market.
In addition, Linssen said that local governments in Taiwan have voiced their support for renewable energy development, reinforcing Enercon’s determination to build a regional hub in the country.
While the government has set a goal of building 1.2 gigawatts (GW) in land-based wind turbines by 2025, Linssen said he is looking beyond that, adding that Taiwan’s market is expected to accommodate 5GW to 10GW in production capacity.
The cost of building land-based wind turbines is lower than for offshore wind turbines, paving the way for higher returns, Linssen said.
While the German firm produces a majority of the components for its wind turbines, Linssen said it would likely outsource the production of components such as blades and motors to Taiwanese suppliers.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
RSS