Ørsted Marks Construction Milestone for Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farms

Ørsted has finalized the primary construction phase for its Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms, integrating 920 megawatts of generation capacity into the regional power grid. This utility-scale technical solution targets continuous electricity generation for the Taiwanese market, specifically supporting high-demand corporate power purchase agreements within the energy-intensive semiconductor manufacturing sector.

Infrastructure Scale and Capacity Integration
The completion of this 920-megawatt phase brings the total installed generation capacity of the Greater Changhua cluster to 1.82 gigawatts, following the operational launch of the 900-megawatt Greater Changhua 1 and 2a sites in 2024. This centralized offshore wind supply chain provides sufficient electrical output to power the equivalent of two million regional households annually. The expansion executes a critical portion of the company's 8.1-gigawatt global offshore construction pipeline, providing baseline data for large-scale maritime energy deployment. The structural completion was marked at the company's Operations and Maintenance Center located at Taichung Port, attended by regional officials and financial consortium members.

Foundation Engineering and Structural Deployment
To adapt to specific marine environments and deepwater seabed conditions, the project utilizes suction bucket foundations alongside traditional mounting hardware. This subsea engineering approach stabilizes turbine structures through hydrostatic pressure and soil resistance, mechanically reducing installation time and mitigating acoustic disturbances associated with standard hydraulic pile driving. Patrick Harnett, overseeing the construction phase, indicated that delivering a 920-megawatt offshore project requires integrating innovative foundation technology with a stable supply chain to navigate complex marine environments. Full commercial operation for Greater Changhua 2b and 4 is scheduled for the end of the third quarter of 2026, pending final grid synchronization and regulatory compliance protocols.

Financial Architecture and Joint Venture Structuring
The capitalization of this infrastructure relies on mixed ownership models and corporate off-take agreements. Greater Changhua 4, operating with a discrete capacity of 583 megawatts, is structured as a joint venture owned equally by Ørsted and Cathay Life. Under an extended financial framework, Cathay will also acquire a 55 percent stake in the 632-megawatt Greater Changhua 2 site upon full commercial operation. This capital deployment is supported by a consortium of 30 domestic and international financial institutions. The investment risk profile is mitigated by a direct corporate power purchase agreement secured with the semiconductor industry, establishing a definitive revenue stream and verifying the commercial viability of privately funded, gigawatt-scale maritime energy zones.

Additional Context:
This section details technical specifications and competitive benchmarking not included in the original product announcement

Within the regional offshore wind sector, the Greater Changhua cluster competes directly with large-scale developments such as the 1,044-megawatt Hai Long project and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' 600-megawatt Changfang and Xidao wind farms. A primary technical differentiator among these sites is foundation engineering. While Changfang and Xidao rely on traditional multi-leg jacket foundations secured by pin piles driven deep into the seabed, Ørsted's implementation of suction bucket foundations in specific localized zones provides a measurable reduction in installation duration and eliminates the need for acoustic mitigation systems during deployment. From a volume benchmark, the fully realized 1.82-gigawatt Greater Changhua cluster represents the largest contiguous operational offshore wind zone in the Taiwan Strait, exceeding the power density and total generation output of surrounding independent lease areas.

Edited by Natania Lyngdoh, Induportals editor, assisted by AI.

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