Financial close for 181 MW floating PV plant in Taiwan

The installation will be located in the Changbin Lunwei East district. A NT$7.2 billion loan was secured from a consortium of seven banks and the solar facility is expected to be grid-connected this year.

April 22, 2020 Emiliano Bellini

The Chenya project, if completed on time this year, could become the largest floating solar plant in the world.

Image: Chenya Energy

Taiwanese solar project developer Chenya Energy Co Ltd has secured NT$7.2 billion (US$239 million) for a 181 MW floating solar project at the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, in the Changbin Lunwei East district of the island.

The money was provided by domestic lenders KGI Bank, Bank Sinopac, E.Sun Commercial Bank and First Commercial Bank alongside Singaporean business DBS Bank, Japanese institution Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and France’s Societe Generale.

“For the first time, Taiwan’s government bank [First Commercial] directly participated in Taiwan’s international-standard, large scale project financing credit case,” said Chenya, which Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp announced plans to acquire in February.

Project completion has been scheduled for this year at Changbin and the solar plant could become the largest floating PV installation in the world.

In December, Taiwanese solar module maker United Renewable Energy announced plans to build a 193 MW ground-mounted solar project near Tainan, on the island’s southwest coast.

However, the nation suffers from a shortage of land for large scale PV projects.

The Taiwanese government aims to install 20 GW of solar by 2025 – including 3 GW of rooftop installations. Premier Su Tseng-chang recently said the government expects around 3.7 GW of new solar capacity by next year.

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