Canada-based Northland Power Inc (NPI) and Yushan Energy Pte (玉山能源) yesterday inked Taiwan’s first large-scale balance of plant, preferred-supplier agreement with CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co (CDWE, 台船環海) for the Hai Long offshore wind farm project (海龍離岸風電計畫).
NPI and Singapore-based Yushan Energy are developing the project off Changhua County with Japan-based Mitsui & Co.
The deal, which represents Canada’s most important investment in the nation, would oversee the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the submarine foundations, inter-array cables, export cables as well as the transportation and installation of the wind turbines, Northland Power said.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
Northland Power president and chief executive officer Mike Crawley said that he is hopeful the deal would satisfy localization requirements and would secure the approval of the Industrial Development Bureau, with the firm to submit a report next month.
Crawley also expressed confidence in CDWE’s ability to carry out the EPCI for the project, despite it being new to the wind energy industry.
CDWE, which was set up in February by CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船) and Belgium-based Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering Offshore NV (DEME), said that it would follow guidance from DEME on Hai Long’s wind farms Nos. 2 and 3.
“This is still very new to us. DEME is helping us with marine engineering, manufacturing, construction, management and financial counseling ... we are training our crew members, who used to work on commercial vessels, to work on the barge used for the wind farms,” CDWE chairman and CSBC president Tseng Kuo-cheng (曾國正) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that DEME is seeking to recruit up to 300 people by next year.
Tseng has said that DEME would use the CSBC No. 15 for the Hai Long project, the first made in Taiwan accommodation barge for offshore wind farms.
The vessel was launched by CSBC three months ago.
The barge would also be used to transport 62 wind turbines for Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S’ (CIP) Chang Fang (彰芳) and Xidao (西島) projects under a deal between CIP and CDWE.
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