Orsted says Taiwan wind project to power TSMC on track for 2025 finish

DENMARK’S Orsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm developer, said on Wednesday (Apr 24) a project in Taiwan that will provide power for chipmaker TSMC is progressing well and is on track for completion next year.

Orsted said in March of last year it had made a final investment decision to go ahead with its planned 920 megawatt (MW) Greater Changhua 2b and four offshore wind farms, which will mostly supply Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) .

“We are progressing very well on all fronts. A lot of manufacturing is ongoing – some of it is completed even before schedule,” Orsted’s Asia-Pacific president Per Mejnert Kristensen told reporters in Taipei.

“Very soon a lot of hardware will start coming into Taiwan and that also means we will have full installation next year and are committed to completing the project by the end of next year,” he added.

“We are very pleased with the progress we are making on that project.”

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a top supplier to companies such as Apple and Nvidia. An intensive energy user, it said in 2021 that it aimed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, matching government plans.

Under the terms of the deal Orsted and TSMC reached in 2020, it will buy power from the new wind farms for 20 years. Orsted has not said how much it is investing in the project.

TSMC said in a statement that it continues to “actively pursue long-term green power procurement contracts in Taiwan from diverse sources to drive the development of the domestic renewable energy industry, which is still in the development stage”.

Taiwan has made renewable energy, especially from wind, a major priority as it tries to wean itself off imports which now power most of its energy, such as coal, though it is also shifting to greater use of liquefied natural gas.

It is also racing to bolster its power grid which has faced large-scale outages in recent years, unnerving industry. REUTERS