The emergence of Taiwan’s offshore wind energy industry has driven the development of related manufacturing technologies. On January 15, 2020, Dr. Re-Yi Lin, the Chairman of the Board from MIRDC and Mr. Wen-Lon Cheng, Chairman of CSBC Corporation jointly signed an MOU, indicating the two parties’ interest in working together to establish high performance intelligent production line for offshore steel structures with hope of combining the professional ship building experiences of CSBC and the intelligent manufacturing integrating experiences of MIRDC to jointly build a demonstration production line of wind turbine foundation manufacturing in Taiwan.

The Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to build 600 offshore wind turbines by 2030. How to ensure the methods to maintain wind turbine foundation quality during the manufacturing process in order to meet the challenges presented by seas and prevent the need for subsequent repairs are the issues that must be addressed. Currently, the wind turbine foundation manufacturing process includes various steps such as plate feeding, milling, grooving, bending, inner welding, slotting, outer welding, inspection & testing, and joining. By collecting information through IoT, users can build a visual production process as well as big data databases that enable them to engage in various monitoring operations. For example, users can inspect milling machine conditions to determine the optimal time to change milling tools, and notifications are immediately sent to production line personnel for them to immediately stop and repair the machines when malfunctioning signals are detected. Additionally, because welding is the most important step of wind turbine foundation construction, ensuring the optimal welding quality for each centimeter of the wind turbine foundation requires real-time analyses to be performed on relevant parameters (e.g., voltage and current) during the welding process. Signals must be issued when malfunctioning occurs to enable timely welding and repairs, ensuring the quality of weld.

Dr. Ren-Yi Lin, the Chairman of the Board from MIRDC indicated that MIRDC has been established for more than 50 years, using its core technology to assist industries transform and upgrade. MIRDC has a wealth of experience in secondary processing (i.e., casting, forging, and welding) and automated integration, and has exerted every effort into promoting and applying intelligent manufacturing. For instance, it has designed a model for smart manufacturing-based production lines for the fastener industry and stamping die industry last year; and is cooperating with CSBC Corporation to co-develop a model for intelligent production line of offshore steel structures this year. The goal is to record the production process of and maintain the quality of each product (i.e., wind turbine foundation), driving industry chain development and promoting the growth of Taiwan’s offshore wind energy.