Ørsted awards 2021 Green Energy Scholarship, cultivating future talents to support Taiwan’s energy transition

Ørsted Taiwan awarded on 4 November winners of the 2021 Green Energy Scholarship Programme (GESP) in recognition of their outstanding dedication to green studies in an award ceremony and reception, the Danish multinational power company writes in a statement.

This year the applicants were Taiwanese students from universities in Taiwan and abroad in countries, such as Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. Winning research topics included evaluation of foundation stiffness under cyclic load, carbon credits of offshore wind energy, comparison of Taiwanese and European capital expenditure efficiency in building offshore wind farms, as well as the optimization of wind farms’ layout. 

Speaking on the matter Christy Wang, General Manager of Ørsted Taiwan, said: “The GESP is one excellent example of our long-term commitment to cultivating talents in Taiwan, which is key to driving offshore wind development. Over the past three years, the GESP has seen a total of 25 winners with a growing number of applicants from a diverse backgrounds submitting a wide range of research topics, well demonstrating an increasing interest and enthusiasm in renewable energy. We hope to continue this effort to establish Taiwan as a hub for green energy talents and academic research in the Asia Pacific region and see more young talents joining the offshore wind energy industry, working together to create a world that runs entirely on green energy.”

Bo Mønsted, Director of the Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei also participated in the ceremony and said, “Denmark started the green transition back in the 1970s and has witnessed the positive economic results brought about by green energy. Internally, the green energy industry has become the fastest-growing sector in the country; externally, technology and equipment exports have made Denmark more globally competitive. Ørsted’s Green Energy Scholarship Programme provides a great opportunity for students to enter this field. It’s wonderful to see more and more Taiwanese students devoting themselves to green energy research and working together for Taiwan’s energy transition.”

In 2021, the GESP had 11 scholarship winners selected from 51 submissions and three of them were from Changhua. GESP winners are selected based on their outstanding performance in green energy research projects, as well as their academic performance, foreign language ability, and experience in renewables demonstrated in the application documents and personal interviews. 

Wei-Ting Chen is one of the 2021 winners, a graduate student of the Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering at National Cheng Kung University. A native of Changhua County, Chen was excited to be selected for his research, entitled “Foundation Stiffness of Monopile Foundations under Cyclic Lateral Load.” He aspires to use the scholarship to pursue further studies in Europe and bring back the advanced technologies in offshore wind to Taiwan.

In the award ceremony on 4 November, Wan-Lin Chang, a 2020 GESP winner, who joined Ørsted as a full-time employee as an Associate Environmental Manager on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) after completing her academic studies, shared her personal experience with the young talents. She said it was a dream come true to have a job that combines her interest and her research specialty. She would like to be an inspiration to other research talents, encouraging them to pursue their future in green energy in support of Taiwan’s energy transition.

Ørsted also announced that the 2022 Scholarship Programme will be opened for submissions starting from November 15th, 2021 to February 6th, 2022. Ørsted encourages more young talents to explore the diverse aspects of offshore wind energy and join the endeavor to make sustainable green energy for Taiwan a reality.

Apply for the 2022 Ørsted GESP here