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PALFINGER MARINE enters the Asian market

PALFINGER MARINE enters the Asian market with platform wind cranes and delivers equipment for wind farm service vessels to offshore farm Formosa 1.

PALFINGER MARINE, the expert in lifting solutions for the wind industry, has successfully entered the Asian offshore wind crane market for the first time.

 

FORMOSA 1 FIRST TAIWANESE OFFSHORE WIND FARM

 

Two PF 8000 fixed boom type platform cranes were delivered in May to Fortune Electric Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of capacitors, lightning arresters and power transformers in Taiwan.

The cranes will be mounted on transition pieces in the building yard in Shanghai and then delivered to Taiwan, where they will be installed in a final step at the offshore wind farm Formosa 1 OWF Phase 1.

Formosa 1 is located five kilometres off the Chunan coast in Miaoli County and is designed to have 30 wind turbines with a capacity of 108 MW in water 5 – 30 m deep. Formosa 1 OWF Phase 1 is a pilot project with two turbines and a project capacity of 8 MW.

GREAT POTENTIAL IN TAIWAN

The Taiwanese offshore wind sector is set to grow over the coming years. Because of limited land space, the build-up of onshore wind farms is declining. Due to the Taiwanese government’s goal to reach the target of 3 GW wind power by 2025 and the enormous potential of offshore wind, Taiwan is faced with a great opportunity here to increase the share of renewable energy in power supply.

FULL COVERAGE OF SERVICE REQUESTS

With the sales and service hub for APAC in Singapore, PALFINGER MARINE is in a position to cover regional customer inquiries. The additional partner network guarantees full coverage of service requests. Jürgen Falch, Head of Service PALFINGER Asia Pacific, states that the Chinese and Taiwanese wind market enjoys a leadership role in the Asia Pacific region and there will be great future potential for service demands: “the customer requires OEM service; this is the only way to guarantee that maintenance will be carried out with original spare parts and by qualified service engineers”.

The Singapore hub is also in charge of sales. New equipment has also successfully entered the wind farm supply vessel segment. Because of the downturn in the oil & gas market, many shipyards are searching for alternatives and see great actual potential in the offshore wind market. PALFINGER MARINE customers such as Strategic Marine in Singapore and Vietnam, and Piriou in Vietnam recently placed orders for 18 foldable knuckle boom cranes for wind farm supply and service vessels that are intended to operate at the European offshore wind farms.

 

POSITIVE VIEW OF FUTURE

Franz Schnöll, Managing Director of PALFINGER Asia Pacific has a positive view of the future: “Deliveries into this currently active market segment are very important for us to compensate for the cutback on orders for oil-related OSV equipment. Our expertise as prime supplier for the established European offshore wind farms will help us become the preferred supplier for lifting appliances required at the upcoming offshore wind farms in greater China and North East Asia”.

For PALFINGER MARINE, entrance into the Asian wind market represents a great success when it comes to further business partnerships. This means another step in the direction of the upcoming wind segment.