Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm has begun flowing power, developer Orsted has reported, with six of the 20 Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines making up phase two of the Formosa 1 project now turning.

The 128MW wind farm, located 2-6km off the coast of Miaoli County in the Taiwan Strait, is expected to be fully operational “within the next two months”.

“First power from the second phase of Formosa 1 is a major milestone for the project before completion,” stated Matthias Bausenwein, president of Ørsted Asia-Pacific.

“An achievement by the Formosa 1 team and all our supply chain partners. Together with our joint venture partners, JERA, Macquarie Capital and Swancor, we'll keep devoting our efforts to building Taiwan's first offshore wind farm on time and within budget.”

He added Formosa 1, started up as a two 4MW turbine development in October 2016, was “committed to producing significant amounts of clean energy and contribut[ing] to Taiwan's energy transition”.

At full power, Formosa 1, owned by Ørsted (35%), JERA (32.5%), Macquarie Capital (25%), and Swancor (7.5%), will supply 128,000 Taiwanese households.

The Taiwanese government, which has ambitions to install 5.7GW offshore wind by 2025, is said to be poised to unveil details of a new 5GW round of its offshore wind allocation programme after accelerating its schedule amid strong interest from foreign developers.