In response to the global trend of energy and environmental protection, TIPC has incorporated environmental protection programs into its investment and business plans since 2022, including greenhouse gas inventories, greenhouse gas reduction for specific industries, and planning for the use of renewable energy. In addition, the corporate has been actively releasing land resources to accomodate the needs of green energy-related industries, besides upgrading port facilities and services. Up to 2023, 408.69 hectares of land have been released.
Energy transformation in Taiwan mainly focuses on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has lower carbon emission, and offshore wind power, which has zero carbon emission. However, energy in Taiwan are all imported, and the port is responsible for receiving energy. Although Chinese Petroleum Corporation and Taipower have started to build new LNG stations, and the capacity of these facilities should be able to meet the domestic demand in near future, the corporate will continue to keep an eye on the general situation of the use and demand of LNG in Taiwan, and instantly adjust the direction of the response.
In line with the energy policy, TIPC has set Taichung Port as the main axis to provide suitable hinterland space to assist development of offshore wind power. Apart from energy transformation, the carbon reduction operation and air pollution control are also major issues worldwide.
Promotion of Offshore Wind Power
In line with the Ministry of Economic Affairs' plan to complete the construction of 5.7GW of wind power by the end of 2025, and the demand to install three wind farms per year with a capacity of 1.5GW in the 3rd phase of development, TIPC planned 4 major operation aspects of offshore wind power, which including turbine pre-assembly area, localized manufacturing area, training center, and O&M services, and provided terminals for wind turbine pre-assembly, manufacturing, and operations and maintenance, as well as wind power-related services. Meanwhile, TIPC strived to enhance its port infrastructure to cope with long-term development of the offshore wind power industry.
TIPC promotes offshore wind power layout
1. Wind turbine pre- assembly terminal
Taichung Port
- terminal
- Foundation storage& transportation area
Anping Port
- Foundation storage& transportation area
2. Personnel training
Taichung Port
- Established offshore wind power talent training center, providing Global Wind Organization (GWO) and customized courses
3. Wind power localization base
Taichung Port
- Manufacturing base for wind turbine components
Taipei Port
- Manufacturing base for underwater foundations
Kaohsiung Port
- Offshore engineering support
- Manufacturing base for underwater foundations
- Wind power sea cables
4. Port service operation
Taichung Port
- Offshore and onshore operation and maintenance base
- Vessel repair service
- Marine transportation service
- Stevedoring, warehouse and storage, heavy duty transportation
Offshore Operation and Maintenance Services
The business opportunities for offshore wind farm operation included offshore vessel transportation and land transportation during the construction period. Via TIPC’s equity investment company, TIPC Marine Corporation, Ltd. (TIPM) provided wind power operators with a full scope of operation and maintenance services, such as offshore transportation supply, exclusive berths for O&M vessels, onshore spare parts warehouses, offices, wind power crew standby rooms, vessel repair bases (docks and racks), machinery and equipment (cranes and forklifts), and etc. In addition, TIPM also provided CTV vessels and barges to enhance its exclusive operation and maintenance services.
Currently, the leased area of the operation and maintenance base had exceeded 20,000 m², and the cumulative net revenue of TIPM in 2023 was NT$425 million, with a 99.6% utilization rate of the vessels and facilities, and no major occupational incidents occurred.
Operation of maintenance vessels of TIPC (1)
Operation of maintenance vessels of TIPC (2)
Land Transportation Service
In response to the fact that wind turbine components were "extra long, extra wide, and extra heavy", via TIPC’s equity investment company, Taiwan International Ports Heavy-Machinery Corporation Ltd. (TIPH) provided turnkey transportation services for offshore wind turbine large-scale components, such as onshore lifting and transportation, etc. In 2023, TIPH already implemented the offshore wind turbine nacelle in-port barging, blade transportation project, and the nacelle factory truck trailer leasing project with operators included, thereby continuously pursued business opportunities for offshore wind turbine components manufacturing and assembly operators settled in Taichung Port.
Cultivation of Offshore Wind Power Talents
In order to promote the wind power crew training business, via TIPC’s equity investment company, Taiwan International Windpower Training Corporation Ltd. (TIWTC) introduced the Global Wind Organization (GWO) training courses to provide localized training services for wind power industry.
TIWTC had introduced the GWO Basic Technical Training (BTT) and Basic Safety Training (BST) international certifications, and spent NT$130 million to build the international standard "Taiwan Wind Energy Training Center" in Taichung Port, with a 6-meter deep water training pool and the highest altitude of 22-meter high training tower in Taiwan. The GWO training courses were the key certification for entering the offshore wind power industry.
In 2023, TIWTC issued more than 3,800 certificates for related courses, ranking first in the market in terms of certificates issued for 5 consecutive years (2019~2023), while at the same time planning to establish a Japanese subsidiary to further develop Japanese market.
n addition to the GWO basic training, TIWTC continued to pay attention to the regularly updated GWO advanced training courses for offshore wind power industry crew based on the dynamic needs of the wind power market, and had already introduced and organized various GWO advanced training courses, such as the "Enhanced First Aid, EFA", "Advanced Rescue Training, ART", "Slinger Signaller, SLS" and "Lift User". TIWTC had also introduced the first Nautical Institute (NI) standard Dynamic Positioning Operator (DPO) course in Taiwan, and had been commissioned by Maritime Port Bureau to implement the local crew training to fulfill market demands.
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