Wpd: TPE airport ‘non-issue’ shouldn’t ground Guanyin offshore wind farm

Only a few steps away from receiving the final authorisation to build the 350 MW Guanyin wind farm off Taoyuan in Taiwan, German offshore wind developer wpd has hit a wall due to concerns raised by the Taiwanese Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) – which could now lead to the Taiwanese government revoking the project’s permit.

In this article:

• Wind farms and airports, and Guanyin vs. TPE
• Wpd: No impact on runway, communication and ATM system ops
• CAA: Impact identified, mitigation measures need to be proposed

The CAA has been arguing that the Guanyin’s wind turbines could have a negative impact on flights to and from the Taoyuan International Airport (TPE).

At a press conference held on 3 September, wpd stated that the aviation safety issue brought forward is a “non-issue”. In a response later on the same day, the CAA said that flight safety for 50 million people annually is “definitely not a fake issue”.

Guanyin is wpd’s second project in Taiwan. The company’s 640 MW Yunlin wind farm in the Taiwan Strait, some eight kilometres west of the coast of Yunlin County, is already under construction and is scheduled to be commissioned in 2021.

Earlier this year, wpd announced a streamlined construction schedule for Guanyin with a plan to build it within one year and have it operational in 2022. At the end of August, the developer signed supply agreements with MHI Vestas, Formosa Heavy Industries and CTCI Machinery, CSBC-Deme Wind Engineering, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, and others.

The news about the Guanyin project being in jeopardy of its permit being revoked emerged around the same time the developer signed the supply agreements, as the project’s permitting process has been nearing completion and – subject to the final authorisation – Guanyin could enter the construction phase soon after that.

The CAA brought the matter forward some three years ago, with the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and its impact on aviation later put under revision.

In a presentation from 3 September, wpd said that Guanyin passed its EIA in December 2017 with no objection from CAA, adding that the project was also awarded the first place in grid allocation campaign in 2018. Furthermore, the company stated that four evaluation parties had confirmed the airport’s operations would not be affected by the offshore wind farm.

The company has listed a total of eleven evidence points in an effort to save the project so close to construction, a milestone which now seems to be slipping away since CAA reaffirmed its position later during the day on 3 September, as a response to wpd’s presentation.

“There are already over 40 onshore turbines in nearby area of Taoyuan airport and 35 of them are within its 10Nm range. These onshore turbines have been operating for over decades and they are even closer to [the airport]”, the developer said.

Looking at the matter with wind farms and airports worldwide, wpd stated that there are wind farms, both offshore and onshore, located within the ten-nautical-mile range of an airport that do not have any issues with impacts on radar, communications, or downwind of the wind turbines.

The project would not interfere with the operation of the airport’s three runways, according to the presentation. The distance from the conical surface area of the first and the second runways is some 3.1 kilometres, and around 1.9 kilometres from the conical surface area of the third runway.

There are no wind turbines within the VFR corridor H1 route; Guanyin would not affect aeronautical or radio communication; and there would be no impact on CAA’s Air Traffic Management (ATM) system’s surveillance signal.

Furthermore, the project site is out of the range of the restricted building area. The restriction area is within a 6-kilometre range from the center of an airport, and the closest Guanyin turbine would be over 10 kilometres away.

The Aviation Education Foundation (AEF), which was assigned to look into the issues in 2018, found that the project would not impact the operation of the Taoyuan airport, including aeronautical communication, navigation aid, and surveillance signal.

Swedish consultancy IBG – Sweden, German Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, and British consultancy Pager Power later verified AEF’s findings.

Regarding the restricted construction range, wpd said that CAA should have designated and announced the restricted construction area according to the regulation if there was an impact on airport operations.

The developer stated that CAA has not revised its restricted building area nor provided the “actual aviation concern” until around three years later, and has hence concluded that the aviation safety issue is a “non-issue”.

In a press release from 3 September, issued in response to wpd’s presentation, the CAA said it had reported its objection to installing offshore wind turbines near the Taoyuan International Airport 23 times since October 2015, 16 times to Liwei Wind Power (a wpd-owned company in Taiwan), and seven times to the governmental bodies.

The final research report on the aviation safety issues was completed and presented in March this year, with the CAA filing it for an expert review in June, the CAA said.

It has been determined that the project would have an impact on communication, aviation management, meteorology and other related equipment, according to the CAA, which added that there were no specific and effective mitigation measures proposed, given this finding.

The CAA then notified the Taiwanese Bureau of Energy that it concluded that the Guanyin offshore wind farm should not be built.

The aviation authority also stated that on August 7 it also wrote to Liwei Wind Power again, expressing its position that the project should not be set up.

The CAA went to address the points presented by wpd earlier that day.

Wind farms can have different impacts on airport operations due to different situations and, internationally, assessments are made on a case-by-case basis, the CAA said.

Furthermore, the authority said that from 2006 to 2015 46 onshore wind turbines were installed in the vicinity of the TPE airport. Only three of them are slightly taller than 100 meters and all turbines are arranged linearly, while Guanyin’s units would be almost 200 meters in height and irregularly distributed, the CAA stated.

While the offshore wind farm is not within the restricted construction area, it does have an impact on the aviation and radar operations, the authority said.

The research conducted by the developer must be able to prove that the project does not affect the airport operations, or to propose specific mitigation and elimination measures for various possible risks, the CAA pointed out.