In order to move towards energy independence and to attract foreign investment, the Taiwanese Government has set a target of 5.5GW of clean energy by 2025. Despite its advanced infrastructure and industries, as a consequence it is still facing major logistical, engineering and civil infrastructure challenges as it strives to meet this goal.
A key development in pursuit of this target is the Formosa 1 wind farm – the country’s first commercial offshore wind project. To facilitate phase two of its construction, a partner was required with experience of managing complex heavy lifting projects across multiple sectors and continents. ALE and Giant Taiwan were chosen to meet this challenge.
ALE – Giant’s scope was the onshore handling, transportation and storage of wind turbine foundations – consisting of 20 monopiles and also transition pieces. This work began at the monopiles’ fabrication facility in Rostock, Germany, and ended at the Port of Taichung, Taiwan.
In Germany, ALE used a tandem-twin strand jack gantry system to lift the monopiles from the fabricator’s trailers. SPMTs with pre-installed ocean transport cradles were then moved into position underneath the monopiles before load-out onto two flat deck carriers for ocean transportation.
