CSC to Join Hands with Swancor to Explore Wind Power Boom

To cash in on the promising growth potential of Taiwan's wind power market, China Steel Corp. (CSC), the largest steelmaker on the island, plans to join forces with Swancor Ind. Co., a Taiwanese producer of vinyl ester resin and wind blades, to supply 600 wind turbines to be erected off Taiwan's western coast with by 2030, according CSC president Andrew Sung.

To better promote use of renewable energy, the Taiwanese government has mapped out a project calling for the installation of 600 5-megawatt-and-above offshore wind turbines by 2030. Investment in the project will total up to NT$480 billion (US$16 billion), based on a price of NT$800 million (US$28.9 million) per turbine, generating enormous business opportunities for interested enterprises.

Swancor seems to be an ideal partner to join the CSC in the development of wind turbines, especially with the Environmental Protection Administration's approval in late November of its proposal to develop a wind farm off the coast of Miaoli County. The proposal calls for the installation of 36 offshore wind turbines that will generate 129.6 megawatts of electricity.

Swancor noted earlier that all the turbines will be located in the neritic (near the shore) zone and connected to three to four submarine cables to transmit generated electricity back to Taiwan. According to the proposed timetable, two prototype turbines will be completed in 2015 and the remainder by the end of 2018.

The CSC's Sung also announced that his company has invested NT$2 billion (about US$66.67 million) to install additional quenching, cold flattening, and related facilities at its steel mills, and that the production of high-tensile steel plates for wind turbines, buildings, factories, bridges, vessels, machinery, and other higher-end applications will begin as early as in June, 2015 with annual output of 1 million tons.

Sung emphasized that wind turbines require high-tensile steel plates of special alloy with a tensile strength over 80 kilograms, compared to 60 kilograms for the plates used in the Taipei 101 Skyscraper. Besides stronger tensile strength, such steel plates also offer better resistance to corrosion and rusting, which will prolong the lifespan of offshore wind turbines.

At the same time, Sung noted that the CSC has set up a wind power business development commission and related departments, and has been bringing in the necessary technologies from abroad with the aim of nurturing Taiwan's wind turbine, ship-building, and marine construction equipment industries. (SC)

Overview of CSC and Swancor
Company	CSC	Swancor
Paid-in Capital	NT$154.638 Bn.	NT$723 M.
Jan.-Nov. 2013 Revenue	NT$318.716 Bn.	NT$3.268 Bn.
Jan.-Sept. 2013 Profit	NT$12.455 Bn.	NT$169 M.
Earnings per Share for Jan.-Sept. 2013	NT$0.82	NT$2.40
Main Products	Cold rolling, hot rolling, steel plates, wire rods, hot-dip galvanizing, electro galvanized steel coils, electromagnetic steel sheets	Vinyl ester resin, UP resin, win blade resin, epoxy composite resin, marine resin, SMC (sheet molding compounds)/BMC (bulk molding compounds) resin, LED packaging resin

Source: CSC, Swancor