French energy industry giant TotalEnergies on Tuesday announced the start-up of power generation from the first turbine of the Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
TotalEnergies joined this project, operated by wpd, with a 23% interest in May 2021 alongside EGCO Group and a consortium of Japanese investors led by Sojitz.
The Yunlin offshore wind farm has a capacity of 640 megawatts (MW) from 80 turbines of 8 MW. Once onstream, it will produce 2.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity per year, enough to serve the power needs of 605,000 households.
"The first turbine was commissioned and successfully connected to the grid in November, with a target to get a first batch of 9 turbines into full operation mode by end-2021, able to produce 270 GWh per year," TotalEnergies said.
"Considered by Taiwan’s authorities as a key area for the development of renewable energies, offshore wind power will contribute significantly to the objective of generating 20% of renewable electricity by 2025 while fostering the emergence of a local wind power industry," TotalEnergies added.
"Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic on construction activities, the combined efforts of all stakeholders, leveraging wpd and TotalEnergies’ expertise in offshore activities, made the start of electricity production from this offshore wind farm possible” said Julien Pouget Senior Vice President Renewables, TotalEnergies. “This power generation, a first from offshore wind since our entry into the sector in 2019, is a new step in the development of our renewable energy footprint”.