ECCT and GWEC: Taiwan's offshore wind ambitions are within reach and will power a green recovery

The Global Offshore Wind Energy Summit -Taiwan (GOWST) 2021 was a great success, attended by an audience of 1,480 physically and virtually, at Grand Hyatt Taipei Hotel featuring high level policymakers, offshore wind leaders, port authorities, and supply chain stakeholders to power the growth of Taiwan's well-positioned offshore wind market in Asia Pacific Region. The annual flagship event was organised exclusively by the ECCT’s Low Carbon Initiative (LCI) and Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), co-organised by the Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC).

Sheng Jong-chin, Vice Premier of Executive Yuan, commented, "Taiwan's offshore wind power promotion has achieved remarkable results. So far, two wind farms have been completed, and the local supply chain capacity established. In addition to completing the planned wind farm construction, Taiwan will continue to promote the Round 3 zonal development to ensure the supply of green power required for manufacturing exports. I look forward to deepening exchanges with international partners to join the Asian market in the near future."

Wang Mei-hua, Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, "Offshore wind power is an important key to achieving net zero carbon emissions in Taiwan. In order to ensure that offshore wind power meets the target as scheduled by 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has formulated an epidemic prevention plan to assist wind farm construction personnel to come to Taiwan. On the premise of prioritizing epidemic prevention, we aim to minimize the impact of the epidemic on the progress of wind farm construction. We hope that we can continue to have good interaction with global partners in the future to jointly promote the development of offshore wind power in Taiwan."

In his opening remarks, ECCT Vice Chairman Giuseppe Izzo said "The next phase of offshore wind energy development in Taiwan will require overcoming the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic as well as Taiwan's upscaling Taiwan's port infrastructure. The pandemic has shown us that Taiwan needs to speed up the renewable energy build out in order to decrease reliance on imported fossil fuels and increase its energy security. But there are also great business opportunities for regional cooperation and in new business areas, such as producing green hydrogen using wind energy."  

MOTC Deputy Minister Chi Wen-jong said, "Offshore wind power is now a focus of Taiwan's energy policy. MOTC not only provides lands and wharfs for turbine assembly, transportation, and component manufacturing, but also wishes to increase the participation of the domestic shipping and maritime engineering industry, through the participation of TIPC and MOTC MPB. MOTC looks forward to working with MOEA to achieve the localization of offshore wind power industry, while ensuring navigation safety."

Ben Backwell, CEO at GWEC, commented, "Taiwan will continue to be an Offshore Wind leader in Asia. Its success has inspired other Asian countries to deploy offshore wind as part of their green energy transition. Following its success, Taiwan will need to develop a long-term infrastructure strategy, especially the ports, to accommodate the huge volume of offshore wind projects in the pipeline and prepare for next generation technologies such as sector coupling of wind-based hydrogen production."

Already a leading country in the region, Taiwan is well-position for future growth in the wind energy market. In the C-Suite executive panel discussion, the moderator Maya Malik, Senior Advisor of the Global Offshore Wind Task Force (GWEC), led a lively discussion among nine industry leaders and government officials on the challenges and opportunities going forward for offshore wind in Taiwan. Yu Cheng-Wei, Director-General of the Bureau of Energy (BOE) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and Yang Chih-Ching, Deputy Director-General of the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) at the MOEA, expressed that the round 3 rules will help accelerate the green energy trading market in Taiwan and encourage more CPPAs to be signed between the developers and Taiwan companies. This, he said, would benefit both the offshore wind industry and Taiwan companies who must decarbonise for global supply chain compliance. Lee Hsien-Yi, TIPC Chairman, and Liu Chih-hung, Deputy Director General of Maritime Port Bureau, MOTC introduced their port infrastructure plans to support round 3 development. Alex Robertson, General Manager of Vestas Taiwan pointed out the need for urgent investment in the Taichung Harbour, which is critical for the industry to produce the next generation offshore turbines in Taiwan. Productive suggestions on Taiwan's localisation and ports infrastructure for Round 3 starting in 2026 were proposed by Weiwei Tseng, Board Member and Director of wpd Taiwan, Christy Wang, General Manager of Ørsted Taiwan, Niels Steenberg, Chairman and Managing Director of Siemens Gamesa, and Marina Hsu, Managing Director of CiP Taiwan. Panellists also discussed ongoing challenges facing Taiwan's offshore wind energy rollout. This includes the fact that local content requirements in Round 3 have increased from the previous round, even though localisation solutions for mandatory items in Round 2 are not yet fully mature and have not yet been delivered. Meanwhile Taiwan maintains lengthy permit procedures, an opaque document submission and review process, overlapping requirements from different authorities and rigid vessel work permission limits.  

The summit continued to explore new horizons for Taiwan offshore wind development under the theme "Sustainable growth of Taiwan's offshore wind industry in the Asian Pacific market," including regional supply chain collaboration in APAC, upscaling port infrastructure, and generating renewable hydrogen from offshore wind. Jin Kato, Chairman of JWPA, and Choi Woojin, Vice Chairman of KWEIA, and Sanjeet Sanghera Global Head of BloombergNEF updated policies and challenges facing new offshore wind markets in Japan, Korea, and the globe, while Liming Qiao, Head of GWEC Asia, introduced the North Sea supply chain collaboration model, which may be applicable to the Asia Pacific region. Jasper Bank, CCO of Port Esbjerg and Chung Ying-feng, Vice President of TIPC, shared their strategy for sustainable port operations. Jasper Bank further elaborated how Esbjerg has evolved from Denmark's principal fishing harbour into Europe's leading port for offshore wind turbines. Andrew Ho at Ørsted Asia-Pacific, revealed the EU's ambitious target for producing renewable hydrogen, mainly from excess offshore wind power, to 6GW by 2026 and 40GW by 2040. The last speaker from TÜV Rheinland Hydrogen Technology Competence Center, Norbert Heidelmann, stressed that the policy setting and internationally recognised certification of differentiating green from grey hydrogen are drivers of renewable hydrogen development.

According to GWEC Market Intelligence's latest market outlook, Taiwan is positioned to be the largest offshore wind market in Asia, excluding mainland China. Taiwan's offshore wind power generation capacity is expected to reach 15GW over 10 years between 2026 and 2035. As a result, Taiwan is projected to support the creation of over 20,000 jobs and attract around US$30 billion in inward investment by 2025. By 2035, the investment is expected to reach US$90 billion and create an estimated 57,000 jobs, transforming Taiwan into a green leader in the region.

歐洲商會及全球風能理事會堅信，臺灣將達成離岸風電目標，帶動綠色復甦

歐洲在臺商務協會（ECCT）和全球風能理事會（GWEC）於10月26日在台北君悅酒店盛大舉行「全球離岸風電高峰會-臺灣」，吸引1,480 名人士於線上及實體與會，臺北君悅酒店現場邀請高階官員、風電領導廠商、港務單位、供應鏈相關業者等出席，鞏固臺灣在亞太地區風電市場的地位。本次年會共有123人實體出席，1,357人線上與會，由臺灣港務股份有限公司協辦，堪稱盛況空前。

行政院沈榮津副院長表示，臺灣離岸風電推動已見成果，至今已完成兩座風場並建立本土供應鏈能量。未來除持續完成已規劃風場建置，也將持續推動第三階段區塊開發確保製造業出口所需的綠電供給。期待未來能繼續深化與國際夥伴交流，一同切入亞洲市場。

經濟部部長王美花指出，離岸風電是我國達成淨零碳排之重要關鍵，為確保離岸風電2025年如期達標，經濟部已在防疫優先的前提下，制定防疫計畫協助風場施工人員來台，盡可能減少疫情對未來風場建置的影響。期許未來能持續與全球夥伴們的良好互動，共同推動離岸風電在台灣的發展。

歐洲商會副理事長尹容在開幕致詞中表示，「臺灣風電第三階段開發過程中，需克服新冠肺炎疫情難關，並提升港口基礎建設規模，在疫情之下，臺灣更需要加速可再生能源發展，才能降低化石燃料進口依存度，並促進能源安全；這也帶動區域合作的龐大商機，也拓展新商業領域，包括運用風電生產氫能」。

交通部祁文中常務次長指出，離岸風電為國家重要能源政策，交通部除配合提供港區土地、碼頭，以利風機組裝、運送以及零組件製造外，亦透過臺灣港務公司的參與，以及航港局經由航政法規的要求，增加國內航運業及海事工程業者參與機會，希望與經濟部共同達成風電產業本土化的目標，同時確保航行安全。

全球風能理事會執行長Ben Backwell指出，「臺灣將持續引領亞洲風電發展，也已帶動亞洲各國在綠能轉型過程中，發展風電，臺灣在成功之餘，也需發展長期基礎建設策略，尤其要發展港口設施，以容納未來的風電計畫，並為下一代技術預做準備，包括以風電生產氫能的跨領域耦合」。

臺灣在亞太區已位居領導地位，奠定未來在風電市場的成長基礎，高階經理人座談由全球風能理事會離岸風電新市場資深顧問Maya Malik主持，與九位企業領袖及政府官員一同探討，台灣未來在離岸風電的障礙和機會，經濟部能源局局長游振偉及工業局副局長楊志清均表示，第三階段開發規劃將加速臺灣綠能交易市場發展，並鼓勵開發商與臺灣公司簽署更多CPPA，如此對風電產業及臺灣企業都有益，能符合全球供應鏈的減碳規範。臺灣港務公司董事長李賢義及交通部航港局副局長劉志鴻均針對第三階段開發，說明港口基礎建設改善方案；維特斯離岸風電公司亞太區總經理Alex Robertson指出，臺中港目前亟需加強投資，協助產業在臺生產下一代離岸風機。對於2026年起第三階段的本土化及港口基礎設施，達德能源董事暨開發部總監曾葳葳、沃旭能源臺灣總經理汪欣潔、西門子歌美颯亞太區離岸風電營運發展總部董事長倪邇思、哥本哈根風能開發公司董事總經理許乃文均提出務實建議。與談人亦論及臺灣風電發展的長期障礙，包括：第三階段對於本土化比例要求大幅提升，但第二階段要求的本土化解決方案至今尚未成熟，亦尚未完成；另一方面，臺灣的許可申請流程過於繁瑣冗長、文件遞送及審查流程模糊不明、各機關規定重疊、船泊工作證限制嚴格等，盼台灣相關政府單位能通力合作，協助產業解決問題。

另一場次主題為「臺灣在亞太離岸風電市場的永續成長」，探究臺灣風電發展的新契機，包括亞太區供應鏈合作、擴大港口基礎建設規模、使用風電生產可再生氫能等。日本風能協會代表理事加藤仁、韓國風能協會副代表理事崔宇鎭、彭博新能源財經全球風能分析主管桑吉特·桑格拉等人，分別介紹日本、韓國、全球新風電市場的政策革新及難關；全球風能理事會亞洲總監喬黎明則介紹歐洲北海供應鏈合作模式，或許能適用於亞太地區。埃斯比約港丹麥首席運營官Jasper Bank及臺灣港務公司業務副總經理Chung Ying-feng則剖析永續港口運作策略，Jasper Bank回顧Esbjerg如何從丹麥首要漁港轉型為歐洲離岸風機主要港口。沃旭能源亞太區新市場政府暨政策事務總監Andrew Ho說明歐盟積極生產可再生氫能的積極目標，其中主要來源即運用多餘的離岸風電，企圖從2026年至2040年，將產能從6GW增為40GW。當日最後一位講者為德國萊因氫能技術能力中心部門經理Norbert Heidelmann，他強調透過政策制定和國際認證，可有效區別綠氫及灰氫，有助推動可再生氫能發展。

依據全球風能理事會市場情報部最新市場展望，臺灣將成為亞洲（中國除外）最大離岸風電市場，從2026年至2035年，臺灣離岸風電設置量將再新增15GW，可望在2025年創造逾兩萬個工作機會，並吸引約300億美元的外來投資。至2035年，各項投資預估可達900億美元，並創造約5.7萬個工作機會，讓臺灣躍居為亞太綠能發展之領袖。