BMT Asia Pacific and BMT Nigel Gee, subsidiaries of BMT Group, the leading international design, engineering and risk management consultancy announced the completion of a major project supporting the development of Taiwan’s offshore wind ambitions. Commissioned by Taiwanese government agencies, and working alongside Wind Prospect Ltd, BMT has assisted in developing practical guidelines to facilitate offshore wind development in an efficient, cost-effective and risk aware manner.
Currently, the Taiwan government is aggressively promoting wind energy, with a particular focus on offshore development – an essential requirement given Taiwan’s mountainous terrain and limited available terrestrial sites. New offshore demonstration projects will receive government support with larger sites to be developed by the private sector to boost total wind-based generation to 4.2GW by 2030.
As part of this push BMT is providing the strategic planning and technology development guidance required to exploit the significant offshore renewable resource. A key deliverable of this project has been a set of guidelines which replicate best practice within Europe, whilst recognising the particular challenges of offshore wind in Taiwan.
Dr Richard D Colwill, managing director of BMT Asia Pacific, comments: “What offshore wind farm developers cannot afford is a problem, or a challenge that has not been foreseen and evaluated. All projects involve risk and successful projects are those where risk is effectively identified, assessed and managed in advance. BMT’s guidelines provide the “heads up” needed by local developers in order to address these future development challenges.
The guidelines review the current state of the offshore wind market and key hazards typically associated with project development. A systematic risk management framework is used to assist the identification, evaluation and treatment of risks. From evaluating the impacts of wind yield, shipping activity, to operations and maintenance safety, the guidelines provide a template for local Taiwanese stakeholders to build on as they take their projects forward.
