Project Spotlight: Hai Long Offshore Wind Farm

Project Spotlight: Hai Long Offshore Wind Farm, Taiwan

Sector: Renewables

Service: Marine Warranty Surveyor (MWS) Services

Location: Taiwan

Project Timeline: 2021 – ongoing (target completion end of 2026)

Project Overview

Hai Long is a major offshore wind farm under construction off the west coast of Taiwan, located approximately 45–70 km offshore in water depths of 35–55 metres. The project comprises 73 wind turbine generators across two fields (HL2 and HL3), delivering over 1 GW of installed capacity. The scope also includes two offshore substations and four export cables.

Construction is ongoing, with some array cable installation remaining and the HL3 wind turbine generators yet to be installed.

The Challenge

The Hai Long project presented several location-specific challenges not typically encountered on other offshore wind developments. Strong currents resulted in high seabed mobility and short-term scour, requiring additional mitigation measures. Seismic activity in the region also raised concerns for jack-up operations, leading to the use of risk-based approaches to operational acceptance.

Further challenges included pile driving in loose soils, which required specialised pile-driving hammers to mitigate pile run risks, as well as supply-chain complexities associated with the project’s location, necessitating additional spare parts to be mobilised to site.

Waves Group’s Role

Waves Group was appointed to provide Marine Warranty Surveyor (MWS) services. The role focused on ensuring best industry practice was maintained and that unnecessary risk was avoided. This was achieved through the review of method statements and engineering documentation relevant to the marine operations.

A multidisciplinary team was engaged, including naval architects, structural engineers, marine engineers, geotechnical engineers, marine operations specialists and logistics and administrative personnel.

Outcome & Value Delivered

Early engagement enabled Waves to support and guide the client by identifying critical risk areas well in advance. This allowed the client to plan early, adjust designs and operations where required, and engage with subcontractors to implement appropriate measures.

The value delivered included:

• Improved safety

• Greater certainty of outcome

• Improved quality of operations

• Avoidance of incidents and asset damage

• Global Delivery

This was a truly international effort.  The project was executed by Waves’ Singapore office, with support from team members in the UK, Europe, the USA and Malaysia. Working across multiple regions and time zones, the team delivered the project efficiently and effectively.