Taiwan’s Port working wind support infrastructure

The Port of Taichung in Taiwan has started construction on Wharf Nos. 37 and 38 to support the nation’s offshore wind industry, with a ground-breaking ceremony held by officials from the Port. Once completed, the wharves will have a combined length of 580 meters and will be able to carry a live load capacity of 40mt per square meter. TIPC Chairman Hsien-yi Lee said that the company had first initiated planning for critical heavy lift wharves in 2015 and had since completed reinforcement work on several existing wharves. The construction is aimed at achieving national offshore wind power directives, including linking wind farms with the national power grid before 2025 and maintaining wind farm installation progress.

The Port of Taichung has already completed work on three offshore wind farms, with a combined capacity of over 600 MW, and work is ongoing on three more. Phase-three wind farm development work, starting after 2026, will add three new 500 MW capacity wind farms and 1.5 GW of green energy to Taiwan’s national grid each year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. After the completion of Wharf Nos. 37 and 38, the Port of Taichung will have three major pre-assembly sites, centered on Wharves 5A, 5B, 36, 37, and 38. Each can be used to independently support the specific needs of one offshore wind farm, allowing for the creation of wind-farm-specific industry clusters and streamlining the on and offsite transportation of turbine components and assemblies.

Moreover, these sites will be benefited from the port’s development of 47 hectares of current windbreak forest. Each pre-assembly site will have access to 30 hectares of land for components storage. TIPC allocated NT$3.5 billion to build two completely new heavy lift wharves at the Port of Taichung for wind turbine pre-assembly operations to achieve the goal of linking wind farms with the national power grid before 2025. The infrastructure in place will help create a more streamlined process for the transportation of turbine components and assemblies, while simultaneously contributing to the nation’s offshore wind industry.