One third of Greater Changhua pin piles done

The first batch of jacket foundation pin piles has been completed for Ørsted’s Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind project in Taiwan.

The first 112 pin piles, around one third of the total needed for the 900 MW project, were made by Taiwanese suppliers Century Wind Power (CWP) and Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI), as well as German fabricator Erndtebrücker Eisenwerk.

The structures will be transported to the Port of Taichung starting from the end of October to December, where they will be stored until the foundation installation commences early next year.

Each pin pile is designed to be nearly 4m in diameter and around 80-90m long and weighs approximately 400t.

All 333 pin piles are planned to be delivered before the end of March 2021.

“We signed the contracts with new Taiwan suppliers in 2018 and 2019 so that they have sufficient lead time to prepare for the fabrication of the pin piles. Moreover, we have increased our assistance to our new market entrant suppliers, which included dispatching a foreign onsite technical expert team early on and providing support and guidance on regular basis,” said Christy Wang, General Manager of Ørsted Taiwan.

“The plan is to shorten their learning curve and support suppliers in order to ramp up their high-leveled welding techniques and competence. Today we see superb progress working with these new suppliers with all the pin piles expected to be finished in early 2021.”

The 900 MW Changhua 1 and 2a project will feature 111 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW turbines installed on jacket foundations some 35 to 50 km off the coast.