Dutch maritime contracting group Jan De Nul has inked a turnkey deal to supply foundations for the 120MW second phase of the Formosa 1 wind farm development off Taiwan.

The contract, which encompasses design, procurement and installation of 20 steel monopiles, along with scour protection and cable-laying, comes on the heels of the company’s breakthrough order last month for foundations for Taiwan Power’s Changhua offshore wind farm.

“We build on our years of experience in Europe, with offshore wind projects in Belgium, England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany,” said Peter De Pooter, manager for offshore renewables at Jan De Nul. “We are happy to be part of this new turn in Taiwan’s power generation strategy.”

Formosa 1, being developed in 5-30 metres of water in the Taiwan Strait by Formosa Wind Power, a partnership of Macquarie Capital (50%), Orsted (35%) and Swancor Renewable Energy (15%), is expected to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm off the Southeast Asian nation when it comes on stream in 2020.

The project began as a two-turbine pilot, featuring 4MW Siemens Gamesa turbines. Phase two, which is slated to be built next year, will use 6MW machines from the OEM.

Last month, Taiwan’s economics ministry awarded Wpd, Orsted and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners the bulk of 3.84GW in offshore wind grid connection capacity on offer in the island nation's first round for wind at sea.

Wind

Double Dutch monopile win for Jan De Nul off Taiwan