Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA yesterday inaugurated Taiwan’s first nacelle assembly plant at the Port of Taichung, its first assembly facility for offshore nacelles outside Europe.
Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), a long-time champion of Taiwan’s ambitions to become a regional hub in the offshore wind farm industry, described the plant as a “milestone” at a ceremony at the plant.
“The completion of Siemens Gamesa’s nacelle assembly plant is a milestone for the development of the offshore wind farm industry in Taiwan and a step toward localizing the supply chain,” Shen said.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-che, Taipei Times
“This is only the beginning. My great hope is for the company to continue to increase the level of local content for its nacelle assemblies,” he said.
The plant early last month completed the first made in Taiwan offshore wind turbine nacelle assembly.
Siemens Gamesa said its output would initially satisfy orders from Orsted A/S’ 900 megawatt Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farms projects.
Photo: Chang Hsuan–che, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s stage 3 offshore wind farm development plan calls for all nacelle assemblies to be made locally from next year.
However, Orsted Taiwan general manager Christy Wang (汪欣潔) said that the company is going “above and beyond local content requirements.”
“We look forward to on-time and on-quality delivery of wind turbines and nacelles next year,” Wang said.
Orsted A/S awarded the contract for the Changhua projects to Siemens Gamesa and asked it to accelerate the local assembly facility.
As a result, the locally made nacelles are expected to arrive significantly earlier than the government planned.
“We are very proud to once again deliver on our promises in Taiwan, together with our client Orsted, our contractors, and central and local authorities who have contributed and guided us throughout the process,” Siemens Gamesa Offshore for Asia-Pacific general manager Niels Steenberg said.
“With the right policy framework” the Taichung plant will eventually take on projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Steenberg said.
The plant has created approximately 80 direct nacelle technician jobs, the company said.
More than 160 tower sections have already been delivered and are stored at the port, it said, adding that the company is “on track” to deliver turbines to Orsted Taiwan for installation in the first quarter of next year.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS