Ørsted has contracted Van Oord for the cable installation works at the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan. The Dutch offshore contractor will be responsible for the transport, installation and burial of 11 inter-array cables with a total length of 135 kilometres. 

The scope of the contract also includes the transport and installation of 3 export cables with a total length of 45 kilometres.

The 900 MW wind farms are located between 35 and 60 kilometres off the west coast of Changhua County and will power approximately 1 million households per year. Once operational in 2022, the windfarms will contribute significantly to the Taiwanese government’s target of 5.7 GW offshore wind by 2025.

The Taiwanese offshore wind market is rapidly developing. Almost all major European offshore contractors including the likes of Jan de Nul, Boskalis, Heerema and DEME are or soon will be active in the region.

For Van Oord, the new contract is the first cable-laying project in the country. “As the Taiwanese offshore wind market begins to expand, Van Oord is committed to supporting the further development of the Taiwanese supply chain and marine workforce by sharing our experience and knowledge in these fields,” the company states.

Starting in 2021, Van Oord will deploy two vessels for the job: the cable-laying vessel Nexus and trench-digger Dig-It.