Macquarie Capital Pledges USD 792 Million for Taiwanese Offshore Wind Projects

Australia’s Macquarie Capital and Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will see the Sydney-based company invest around USD 792 million in offshore wind projects in Taiwan over the next three years, the company’s chairman John Walker said in an interview with Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

Taiwan’s renewable energy drive is the biggest business opportunity in Asia, Walker said, adding that Macquarie expects up to 7 per cent return on its investment in the offshore wind projects in Taiwan if the country raises its wholesale price for renewable energy.

Taiwan should raise the wholesale price of renewable energy in order to attract further investments in its fledgling sources of renewable energy generation, Walker said. He also added that consistent policies is what attracts investors.

Taiwan plans to install three offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 300MW by 2020, and to achieve at least 3GW of total installed offshore wind capacity by the year 2025.

The country’s first offshore wind farm, the 130MW Formosa I, is scheduled for commissioning in 2019.

According to the country’s Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan’s offshore wind energy projects are expected to attract TWD 2.5 billion (EUR 70 million) of fresh investments in 2016, and a total of TWD 670 billion of new investments by 2030.