International offshore wind power team the Hai Long Offshore Wind Farm Project Office (海龍離岸風電計畫辦公室) is to create a joint venture with Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) and Belgian offshore solutions company GeoSea NV in a bid to make inroads into the global offshore wind power market.
Hai Long is a venture that was formed by Canada-based Northern Power Development Inc and Singapore-based Yushan Energy Pte Ltd in 2015.
The team running an offshore wind farm off Changhua County yesterday signed a letter of intent to cooperate with CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co Ltd (台船環海風電工程).
GeoSea is a unit of DEME Group, which specializes in offshore marine engineering projects.
It formed the CSBC-DEME joint venture with CSBC on Dec. 20 last year to pursue wind farm development contracts, and introduce marine technology and management expertise to Taiwan.
Hai Long project director Chen Tsung-hua (陳聰華) said the two sides have decided to cooperate in part to become better integrated with several local sectors, such as engineering design, insurance, finance, maritime substations, wind turbines, wind farm systems and electricity transmission cables.
While bringing international techniques and technologies to Taiwan, the joint venture would also push for the localization of the supply chain, Chen said.
The partnership is also to focus on developing a full range of wind power capabilities, from design and manufacturing to construction and commercial operations, so that they can make inroads in the global offshore wind power market.
Hai Long is seeking to install offshore wind turbines with a generating capacity of 1,208 megawatts at two sites off the shore of Changhua County.
The project is pending approval by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which is expected next month.
Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) said he expects offshore wind power to create up to NT$1.19 trillion (US$40.6 billion) in investment opportunities in the county.
“Once wind power operators establish themselves in Changhua, they will benefit the county with sizeable tax revenues and other contributions,” Wei said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last