Windhoist Limited welcomed a Taiwanese delegation headed by the Vice Minister of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs to Irvine on 1st November to explore potential areas of collaboration within the burgeoning Asian offshore wind sector.
With Taiwan recently announcing plans to deploy 5.5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2025, a delegation of business leaders recently visited Scotland in order to learn more about the sector by meeting companies already part of the world-leading European supply chain. The trade mission – organised by Scottish Development International – is the latest in a series of bilateral activities between Taiwan and Scotland aimed at stimulating collaboration within the renewables sector.
The Taiwanese Government has announced an intent to work with established offshore wind suppliers in order that a strong local supply chain can be developed and has stated that in order to achieve this it will proactively seek to invite the most experienced and successful European suppliers to establish a presence in Taiwan.
Following a presentation by the delegation explaining plans for offshore wind in Taiwan, the delegates were shown around the world-class Windhoist Training Centre, taking in a number of live training demonstrations.
Gavin McBride, Windhoist’s Project Manager for Asia, commented, “We travelled to Taiwan in September to visit the Port of Taichung (Taiwan’s proposed offshore renewables hub) and met a number of agencies and supply chain companies in the region. It is evident that the country is gearing up for this offshore wind deployment bounty and we are very keen to be part of this early journey. Having deployed wind resources in over 20 countries around the globe, we are adept at establishing local presence in high growth international markets and see Taiwan as a key market in the next phase of our international expansion strategy. We are confident that our core competences in turbine construction and installation, heavy lifting, engineering and industry-leading training will serve us well in this developing market”.
Commenting on behalf of the Taiwanese delegation, Paul O’Brien of SDI said, “The delegation were very impressed with the facilities in Irvine and were particularly interested in the training centre. Further discussions are planned between Windhoist and Taiwanese agencies regarding collaboration opportunities in Taiwan. As a global leader in the deployment of offshore renewable energy, Scotland is well-placed to seek export opportunities overseas. Taiwan is expected to be one of the fastest growing offshore wind markets globally and we are delighted to foster closer links so that Scottish companies such as Windhoist can play an integral part in birthing the industry within Asia.”
With over 400 technicians employed, the Windhoist Group has operating presence in Scotland (Irvine and Stirling), Ireland, Australia, Germany, South Africa and Morocco. The company has successfully deployed its technical wind resources in over 18 countries globally – installing more than 6,200 turbines (11GW+) - and maintains one of the most comprehensive heavy lift fleets available on the market. The company successfully diversified from onshore to offshore wind with the recent award of turbine construction contracts for the 558MW Beatrice project (Scotland’s maiden commercial-scale wind farm) and the 1218MW Hornsea One project (currently the world’s largest offshore wind farm) from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.
Press enquiries to Alan Duncan: [email protected] Gavin McBride: [email protected]
