EPA Denies Approval for TGC’s Fuhai OWF

Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has not approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Taiwan Generations Corporation’s (TGC) 28-turbine Fuhai Offshore Windfarm off the coast of Changhua County.

According to local media, the EPA grand assembly – which has given the go-ahead to eight offshore wind projects – has rejected EIA for the Fuhai offshore wind farm due to continuous delays with the first stage demonstration project that should have been already up and running, according to the initial plans.

Namely, TGC obtained the EIA approval for the Changhua Offshore Pilot Project (COPP) in 2013 and was supposed to install two 4MW wind turbines and a met mast by now, however, the developer sought the application extension three times so far and has not been able to set up the project despite that.

Following the latest request for extension, submitted recently, the Bureau of Energy of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs decided to set the deadline for the turbines to be installed by the end of March 2018, the Central News Agency writes. If the project is not completed by then, it is likely to lose its development rights.

TGC, in a joint initiative with CSBC Corp. and Century Iron and Steel Company, applied for the Taiwanese government’s scheme supporting demonstration offshore wind projects in 2012, and was awarded the government grant support for the Changhua Offshore Pilot Project (COPP) and Fuhai Offshore Windfarm in 2013.

TGC obtained the EIA approval for COPP in February 2013 and commenced project design works in August 2013 based on the site survey carried out at the Fuhai Deployment Zone.

Offshore WIND Staff