Up and Coming Solid Player BlueFloat Energy's Offshore Wind Power Global Expansion in Eight Countries

What will a demonstration project have to offer to Taiwan? How will this help the offshore wind industry develop? The answers are also linked to the general public's expectations for floating wind farms in Taiwan. What scale should they have? How big can it be developed? These questions enabled our assessment of the preliminary stage of Taiwan's supply chain.

BlueFloat Energy Senior Team in Taiwan:
Michael Pinkerton, Taiwan Country Manager, and Esteban Sancho, Project Manager.

By Xin-En Wu

　　BlueFloat Energy is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable players in the Taiwanese floating wind power industry this year. BlueFloat Energy announced its entry into Taiwan's market on May 24th, 2022, aiming to participate in the bid for Round 3. The project is called Winds of September which is named after the seasonal winds blowing in the Hsinchu area, where the project will be located and thus authentically symbolizing the local spirit of Taiwan. The site is located off the waters between Hsinchu Country and Hsinchu City with about 64 ~ 96 meters of water depths. The total development area of the wind farm is approximately 125 km2 and the estimated total capacity is about 1GW. The shortest distance from the wind farm to the shore is about 25 km.

　　"I've spent most of my career in the engineering team, and now I have both the electrical engineering background and O&M experiences. Taiwan is still a relatively new environment for my industry, but I'm personally quite familiar with this place since I stayed in Taiwan for 18 months in the past," Michael Pinkerton, the Country Manager of BlueFloat Energy in Taiwan, noted. "The energy industry is full of thrilling challenges. It means we've got a lot of work to do." With 25 years of experience in the energy industry, Pinkerton has participated in and led several renewable energy and offshore wind farm projects of development, construction, and O&M in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Pinkerton has also participated in renewable energy site developments of the Macquarie Group and Swancor Renewable Energy.

Two major focus of floating wind farm development: technology and supply chain management

　　Several offshore wind developers are already present in the Taiwanese market aiming floating wind projects. However, floating wind technology is still new for Taiwan, which will further connect and form a new chain of industries. BlueFloat intends to leverage its floating expertise to help develop this industry in Taiwan. "Developing offshore wind power and offshore wind farm requires diversified experiences and technologies. Even in markets like Taiwan, technologies optimal for the local conditions and resources provided by the local supply chain still must be discovered to plan wind farm development projects integrally," Pinkerton explained. "Technologies are fundamental in the development and construction of floating wind farms, particularly at the time when the world is validating the commercial operation models of floating wind farms. The key to success lies in the key technologies." Said Pinkerton.

　　Another key member of BlueFloat Energy in Taiwan is Esteban Sancho, currently a Project Manager for BlueFloat Energy. "Floating wind farms require more flexibility in supply chain. Before developing the new wind farm, we need to know the industry's capability to formulate a list of suppliers correspondingly," Sancho said. "The understanding of supply chain is particularly essential for the development of floating wind farms, especially for a supply chain with the current technological capability."

　　Since Taiwan's offshore wind entered the local manufacturing stage, its relevant issues have always been the center of the industry's attention. During the selection process of round 3, Pinkerton pointed out that judging from past announcements, the known correlation requirements are all designed for fixed wind farms, rather than floating wind farms. Many details for the latter are still undefined and undetermined, including whether the localization items are essential for projects, and what items are planned for localization.

　　"Taiwan is still learning the ropes of floating technologies and their application, but since the entire world is also still learning and trying to build reliable supply chains for it, Taiwan isn't that far behind," Pinkerton explained. "Of course, it would be too assertive to state that it is impossible to include all wind farm development suppliers who joined Phase I and II development into the supply chain, yet this will require extensive considerations, such as harbor planning and scale, vessels, other infrastructures, etc."

　　In 2021, there were intense discussions regarding whether a demonstration project is required for floating wind farm development in Taiwan. Not long after that, the Bureau of Energy announced that the rules for the demonstration site of floating wind farm development would be released by the end of 2022.

　　"We've decided to take our participation in the demonstration wind farm as a chance to accumulate precious experience. Before Taiwan's floating wind farms enter the commercial scale, we'd like to give it a try and understand how the development of a smaller-scale floating wind farm project will proceed," Pinkerton stated. "We also need to keep in mind that there are multiple medium and large-scale floating wind farms under construction in recent years, allowing us to earn experiences comprehensively from all the global construction cases. In Taiwan, it still needs some time for the wind farm supply chain to mature, and pragmatically speaking, such experiences are generated by the economies of scale."

　　As the construction of wind farms becomes better, faster, and larger in numbers, smarter technologies will be enabled, helping to reduce the cost and offer more experiences from the industry, which creates a positive cycle. "Projects from other countries bring us experiences and insights on actual cases," Pinkerton said. "When we analyse these projects, we started asking ourselves: what will a demonstration project offer Taiwan? How will this help us to go further? The answers depends on the general public's expectations of floating wind farms in Taiwan. What scale should it be? How big can it be developed? These questions are crtical to our assessment of the preliminary stage of Taiwan's supply chain."

Expansion of offshore wind power in eight countries

　　Pinkerton has had experience in many onshore wind farms, solar energy, and offshore wind farm projects. Pinkerton has been living in Asia for the past five years, participating in and leading several projects, including the development of a utility-scale solar energy investment portfolio in Taiwan and the rooftop solar energy platform development in Hong Kong.

　　"2022 has been a very critical year for BlueFloat Energy, and it's my pleasure to be part of it. I feel that the offshore wind power industry has a unique charm. Even when you foresee all the challenges, there is always some force of attraction that pulls you back in, along with many people who want to make a difference in the world," Pinkerton noted. "The problems we're encountering in Taiwan are the same as what the world is currently facing for offshore wind power development. However, why does the progress speed differs for different countries? Several complex factors contribute to that. One still can't deny that as a type of green energy, wind power development is essential for the world."

　　"I started as an project engineer in the oil&gas industry and have been working in the energy industry for more than 10 years. My career path includes other fields such as oil&gas, solar energy, and energy efficiency companies located in the Silicon Valley and Europe," Sancho explained. "Joining BlueFloat Energy allowed me to enter the offsore wind power industry and I'm very excited for what's to come."

　　Sancho said that many people thought he only came to Taiwan because of the company's plans, which is far from the truth. "I had the plan to move to Asia for a long time, so in 2019, I came to visit to discover how life was in some countries here, Taiwan among them. When I came here I became deeply in love with Taiwan, so I promised myself that one day I shall return, and the most preferable way was to keep my career path here and learn Mandarin in Taiwan. That's when I noticed Taiwan was yearning for the development of offshore wind power," Sancho said.

　　In 2020, Sancho got the chance to meet Carlos (Carlos Martin, CEO of BlueFloat Energy). "Carlos's knowledge of floating wind farms and related technologies is enlightening, allowing me to discover a world that was unknown to me. Most people were not optimistic about floating wind farms back then, but maybe it was because of Carlos' charm, in 2021, after moving to Taiwan, I decided to join BlueFloat Energy to help with all the activities in the region."

　　As a nimble and fast growing company, BlueFloat Energy has a global pipeline of over 23 GW of offshore wind projects spanning across eight countries, including both bottom-fixed and floating wind projects. The development and management of a wind farm is not an easy task and any delayed decision may lead to tens of billions in losses. "The major key factor is leadership. People might find it hard to believe, but the BlueFloat Energy team currently consists of only 67 members. However, BlueFloat Energy has already achieved a capacity of 23GW in global offshore wind power developments," Sancho indicated. "With such outstanding performances, I believe the quick responses and the decisions made under the management's leadership are very crucial. BlueFloat Energy is what it is today because of our solid technical strength, enabling a secure foundation from the team members' expertise, and maybe with a bit of the wind in our favor. BlueFloat is not yet so big of a company, but I'm certain that we shall achieve even greater things, stunning more people in the future," said Sancho.