October 3 (Renewables Now) - Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) has decided not to submit a bid in the first round of Taiwan's Phase-3 auction process for offshore wind turbine capacity in light of the gloomy economic environment.

The Danish clean energy major announced its decision on Friday, the last bidding date in the tender round. The group’s CEO Mads Nipper explained that the low prices, high inflation and pricing pressures are creating challenging frame conditions, which, in turn, threaten the financial viability of projects.

Commenting on the specific conditions in a social media post, Nipper pointed out that the “combination of small maximum project size, high local content requirements and low maximum feed in tariff” create an unfavourable local environment.

“As the largest and most experienced offshore wind developer in Taiwan, we had to take stock of the limitations set by the current regulation, which in combination with high inflation and increasing interest rates led us to conclude, after exhausting all efforts, that we cannot make the projects investable at this stage,” said Per Mejnert Kristensen, Head of Region Asia-Pacific at Ørsted.

Taiwan’s Phase-3 Zonal Development offshore wind round will support the country’s goal to connect 5.5 GW of offshore wind by 2025. According to the country’s Central News Agency (CNA), local authorities have received 11 submissions in the tender.

In Taiwan, Ørsted is currently building the 900-MW Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind complex, which is due to go online in 2023, and is also developing the 920-MW Greater Changhua 2b & 4 project.

According to the statement, the country remains among the Danish group’s strategic markets, regardless of its latest decision.

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