Seajacks to install 20 offshore wind turbines for Taiwan's Formosa 1

England-based offshore installation firm Seajacks has been selected to install 20 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines for a 120-MW offshore wind project in Taiwan, or phase II of the Formosa 1 development.

The company’s jack-up vessel Seajacks Zaratan is to start work in the second quarter of 2019, Seajacks said Wednesday. The installation contract is subject to a final investment decision and financial close on the project. Both are expected later in 2018.

Formosa 1 is being developed by Swancor Renewable Energy Co, with Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) and Denmark’s Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) holding project stakes of 50% and 35%, respectively. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA (BME:SGRE) last month announced conditional turbine supply and service contracts for the project. Ørsted said last week it had taken a final investment decision and is awaiting the decision of its partners too.

Seajacks will be installing the SWT-6.0-154 offshore wind turbines in water depths of around 30 metres off the coast of Miaoli County, northwestern Taiwan.

“We welcome Seajacks bringing a suitable vessel to Taiwan as one of the first suppliers, relieving one of the bottlenecks for utility scale offshore wind in the region,” said Niels Steenberg, head of Siemens Gamesa in APAC. He added that more projects are expected to follow, now that the Taiwanese offshore wind pipeline until 2024 is clear.

Phase I of Formosa 1 involved the installation of two 4-MW turbines by Siemens, commissioned in 2017.

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