EnBW Goes Big in Taiwan

Germany’s EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG has agreed to acquire 37.5 percent stakes in three offshore wind projects in Taiwan with a combined capacity of around 2GW.

This is the company’s first investment into offshore wind outside Europe. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the Cartel Authority in charge.

If the acquisition is approved, the three projects will be owned by EnBW, Australia’s Macquarie Capital, and Taiwanese project developer Swancor Renewable.

According to local media, the three projects have recently received the necessary approvals from Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

The new partnership will initially focus on securing grid connection capacity for the three projects in Taiwan’s Changhua region.

Under the agreed division of responsibilities, EnBW will take on the majority of the technical project development. For this purpose, EnBW has already provided its own personnel on site in Taiwan for the joint team, which is supported by experts from the EnBW offshore office in Hamburg. A local skilled workforce will is also be established, with employees trained and qualified by EnBW, the company said.

“Over recent years, EnBW has accumulated valuable know-how in planning, developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms. With 336 megawatts in operation, 610 megawatts in construction and a further 900 megawatts planned, we are evolving into one of the leading offshore wind developers and operators. We are pleased to be able to contribute this expertise to the highly effective partnership with Macquarie Capital and Swancor Renewable now and to move the projects forward in future with these two strong partners,” said Dirk Güsewell, Head of Generation Portfolio Development at EnBW.

EnBW intends to expand renewable energies to form one of the main pillars of its business by 2020. The company also plans to continue driving ahead this expansion beyond 2020 and to further extend its market position. With a view to long-term growth, EnBW will invest over EUR 5 billion in the further expansion of renewables through to 2025. In the process, it is targeting selective internationalisation as a supplement to its core market of Germany.

“In moving into project development in Taiwan, we have opened the latest chapter in our offshore wind activities. The expertise that we have built up in the offshore wind sector in the last few years is in demand worldwide, and we want to export it. That is why we are also directing our sights at new international offshore wind markets that offer growth opportunities and an attractive economic environment, so that in a first step we can start by developing selected projects ready for construction,” said Dirk Güsewell.

Taiwan has set a target of 5.5 GW of offshore wind power to be ready by 2025, with the allocation of the necessary grid connection capacity planned for the first half of 2018.