Review of recent offshore wind power strategy in Taiwan: Onshore wind power comparison

Since 2016, Taiwan has pursued an agenda of energy transition and a nuclear-free homeland by 2025, with an increase in renewable energy from 5% in 2016 to 20% in 2025. Furthermore, Taiwan has significantly accelerated its offshore wind power (WP) targets since (i.e., 5.7 GW by 2025) from two 4-MW turbines in mid-2016. The Taiwanese government set the highest feed-in tariff worldwide to attract the attention of large global renewable developers. The criterion for a high feed-in tariff is a local content requirement. If successful, Taiwan would become the third largest offshore WP country in terms of installation capacity and would have achieved this the fastest, despite the current low industry capability for both onshore and offshore WP. This study provides updated information on offshore WP policy development in Taiwan, focusing on the world's first offshore WP selection and local content requirement regime in 2018. Moreover, this study compares the evolution of research development, demonstration, and commercialisation of onshore and offshore WP, identifying the lessons and challenges in realising such an ambitious plan. • Updated overview of onshore and offshore wind power development in Taiwan. • Onshore/offshore wind power development from research to commercialisation. • Potential challenges to become the third largest offshore wind power country. • Unbiased view of the wind power landscape in Taiwan. • Information for developers interested in Taiwan's high feed-in tariff.