Mitsui & Co and Northland Power Inc (北陸能源) are to invest in a ￥960 billion (US$6.5 billion) offshore wind project off Taiwan’s east coast that would generate enough electricity for 1 million households.
Seventy-three large turbines would be installed in the offshore area about 45 to 70km off of Changhua County, with power being produced from the end of 2025 and the project being completed a year later, the Japanese company said in a statement released yesterday. Mitsui would have a 40 percent shareholding in the development, which would have a 1,022 megawatt capacity.
The rest of the Hai Long Offshore Wind Power Project (海龍離岸風電計畫) would be owned by Northland, a Canadian company, Mitsui said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Agreements have been signed to sell the green electricity to Taiwan Power Co (台電) under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) and to a private power user in Taiwan under a 30-year PPA.
The investment decision comes as soaring costs derail offshore wind projects around the globe, even as demand for renewable power has jumped. Mitsui, one of the largest Japanese trading houses, is trying to move away from fossil fuels, while Taiwan is targeting 5.6 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2025, up from just 237 megawatt in 2021.
Mitsui plans to invest ￥260 billion in the project, while ￥540 billion would be raised via financing, it said. The company’s shares fell 1.9 percent as of 2:21pm in Tokyo yesterday, outpacing a 0.5 percent drop in the Nikkei index.
Separately, the Hai Long Offshore Wind Project announced yesterday that it has signed credit agreements for NT$118 billion (US$3.67 million) in long-term financing. Once financing is completed, it would be the largest offshore wind project financing to date in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region, according to a statement posted on its Web site. This not only signifies a big milestone for the project, but also demonstrates a new page for the nation’s green finance.
The project is expected to be connected to the power generation grid between 2025 and 2026, the statement said. Creating more than 5,000 jobs throughout its lifetime, the Hai Long Project would become the largest single wind farm in Taiwan and supply electricity to more than 1 million households, it said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS