Taiwan-based China Steel Corp. will transform Taichung Harbor’s No. 2 pier into East Asia’s first offshore wind turbine assembly and shipping port and Taiwan’s first wind power production zone, the ROC Ministry of Economic Affairs said July 3.
China Steel signed a letter of intent with Port of Taichung, a branch of Taiwan International Ports Corp. Ltd., to construct the combined facility, under which Port of Taichung provides its No. 2 pier and 74.28 hectares of land. China Steel will use this land to create a wind power industrial cluster, including a testing and certification facility.
“Taiwan has some of the best wind farm conditions in the world, so it has excellent potential for creating an offshore wind power industry,” said Shen Jong-chin, director general of the Industrial Development Bureau under the MOEA.
“The IDB’s wind power development plan envisions setting up model wind farms in the short term to encourage investment and development of the industry, with a long term goal of establishing a domestic production chain. The current project involves China Steel acting as a vanguard, drawing six related manufacturers to the zone and more in the future to benefit from a clustering effect.”
The ultimate aim of the plan is to integrate upstream materials producers, midstream components manufacturers and downstream assemblers to form a value chain, pulling in investment from financial and insurance companies, as well as engineering consultancies and shipping firms, to establish a self-sufficient domestic turbine industry, Shen said. The goal is to have 600 offshore turbines by 2030, with NT$700 billion (US$23.1 billion) in production value and 19,000 jobs created.
