In order to encourage local enterprises and industries to proactively enter the business opportunities offshore wind farm operation and maintenance, and promote the innovation of operation and maintenance technology, the Bureau of Energy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs commissioned the Metal Industries Research and Development Centre (MIRDC) to implementthe offshore wind farm structure maintenance and operation and maintenance technology development promotion plan. On the 25th of September 2019, a seminar on "Overseas Wind Farm Structure Maintenance and Operation and Maintenance Practice" was held at the NTUH International Convention Center. The two themes of offshore wind farm innovation technology and local operation and maintenance opportunities were discussed. The event attracted nearly 100 domestic and international enterprises to participate and received great response
As far as offshore wind farm innovation technology is concerned, Fer-mo Enterprise Corp.,
Adat Technology Co., Ltd. and Ai Kwang Tech co., Ltd were invited to share the development status of the latest structural maintenance technology for offshore wind farms.
Fer-mo Enterprise Corp. is one of the domestic engineering companies specialized in harbor anti-corrosion and sea area steel structure protection. Mr. Grant Wang, the representative of the company (Special Assistant of Chairman) stated that technical development of wind turbine structure corrosion detection and monitoring is in response to the current situation of Taiwan;Adat Technology Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary company of Marketech International Corp. has focused on module service integrated with AR and AI technology, the representative of the company, Mr. Kevin Su, the General Manager expressed that the labor gap caused by the rapid growth of the global offshore wind farm. In this way, the AI is proposed to reduce the manpower shortage and improve the efficiency of offshore wind farm operation and maintenance; Mr. Yung Tsai Huang, Technical Manager of Ai Kwang Tech co., from the manufacturing’s point of view mentioned about the use of arrayed ultrasonic waves for non-destructive testing when coming to offshore wind farm structures. It is a gathering of experience sharing through expert technical discussions to assist the domestic enterprises and industries in grasping the international trends.
Also, when it comes to theme of local operation and maintenance opportunities, the event invited Mr. Stefan Marschner, the Taiwan Region Manager of Deutsche Windtechnikto demonstrate how European experience combines Taiwan’s local resources to create a full range of autonomous operational services; Mr. Andreas Munk-Janson, the Head of Region East Asia, Offshore Operations thought that the direction of offshore wind farm operation and maintenance is proposed under the trend of digital management of offshore wind farms, which is expected to bring different technical R&D thinking to the participants.
Dr. Chia-Min Wei, the Vice President of MIRDC stated that the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms is a market where Taiwan domestic enterprises and industries
should access. However, the current industry should emphasize the acceleration and strengthening of exchanges with wind farm developers and operators to ensure that the quality of technology and services meets international standards. By strengthening talent training and technology upgrades, cooperation opportunities for up to 20 years can be established. In view of the fact that Taiwan offshore wind farm is entering the development stage, it is expected to provide considerable operation and maintenance opportunities during the 20-year operation and maintenance period. Therefore, the Bureau of Energy will take this opportunity to encourage the domestic enterprises and industriesto enter the offshore wind farm operation and maintenance early. Preparing and considering the development of innovative operation and maintenance technology in Taiwan in response to different oceans and geographical environments. By grasping the opportunity may Taiwan become the Asia-Pacific supply center.