WPD breaks ground on Taiwan PV projects

The developments of photovoltaic projects will consolidate the German firm's position in the country

Bremen-based WPD is set to construct three photovoltaic projects in Taiwan, in addition to its current 38 PV projects in the country with a total capacity of 9.25MW, Renews Biz reports.

According to the report, an 1MW rooftop project is planned in the city of Taoyuan, a major industrial centre in northwestern Taiwan. Taoyuan is adjacent to New Taipei, Taiwan's largest city.

The PV modules will be installed on the roof of a hall complex of Manloy Metal Industrial and the project will generate 1251MWh of green electricity in the future. This would make it the company's largest solar PV project in Taiwan to date.

For the three new projects, WPD was able to secure a 20-year PPA with the Taiwanese grid operator TPC. In addition, the report states that companies have the opportunity to purchase the green electricity generated in Taiwan as part of a corporate PPA.  

With the two other projects, WPD will realign the focus of its PV strategy in Taiwan. These are ground-mounted projects located in Chiayi County in the west of the island state, the report said. The very high solar irradiation here means that correspondingly good yield values can be expected.

Further, the projects are in close proximity to each other and have a planned total output of 0.4MW, so that all three new Taiwanese WPD solar projects will have a combined output of 1.5MW.

"In Taiwan, we not only find excellent conditions for wind on- and offshore, but also for the generation of solar energy... We have established ourselves in the country as an important and competent partner for renewable energy projects and can further expand our own portfolio,” said WPD managing director for solar PV Niclas Fritsch.

Taiwan's renewable energy market is a key market for WPD in the Asia-Pacific region.

The company is also steadily expanding its activities in Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Mongolia, the Philippines and India.