Taiwan issues draft rules for upcoming 3GW offshore wind tender
Taiwan issues draft rules for upcoming 3GW offshore wind tender | Windpower Monthly
During a public hearing, the Energy Administration said the maximum size for projects has increased. With around five projects expected in total, the first will be capped at 900MW and the second at 700MW. Subsequent projects will be 500MW each. Projects can also apply for an additional 100MW, subject to approval.
Applications will be judged primarily on technical expertise (60%), with financial credibility (40%) also being assessed, the administration said. Local content remains a key focus, although mandatory requirements have been removed and replaced with a new set of 21 optional items alongside a point system, offering developers more flexibility, according to the Trade Council of Denmark in Taipei. Bidders will need to score at least 70 points to be considered. Higher scores increase the chances of securing extra capacity.
Localisation of turbine foundations, blades and nacelles will each be awarded 18 points per bid, while local production for cables will be awarded 14 points.
In terms of bid price, the Energy Administration expects to set an upper limit of TWD 2.49/kWh ($0.08/kWh), with TWD 0/kWh as the lower limit.
Praising the updated format, the Danish Trade Council noted that fulfilling four favoured local content criteria alone would mean almost meeting the 70-point threshold for bid consideration. “While there is room for improvement, we consider these adjustments a step in the right direction,” a spokesperson for the council said.
A number of companies are already thought to be considering bids for the upcoming tender according to the Energy Administration, with Iberdrola, Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), offshore wind specialists Corio, and Taiwanese offshore wind developer SRE Group among them.
CIP and Corio were both awarded offshore wind projects in January's 3GW tender round.
The Energy Administration said it will accept comments and suggestions on the provisional rules for round 3.2 until 11 October.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.