STAND on the Walney coast and it can be easy to forget you're not more than 6,000 miles away in Taiwan.

That is, at least, according to a group of Taiwanese delegates visiting Barrow last week.

A delegation of civic leaders and industrialists from Changhua County took part in the fact-finding mission to learn more about modelling their town on south Cumbria.

Lugang, a township in Changhua County on the west coast of the island, is the site of a proposed windfarm development.

Similar in landscape and population to Barrow, Lugang aims to be the hub of energy generation in Taiwan, as Cumbria is the energy coast of the UK, with the Walney Extension set to become the world's largest offshore windfarm when it's completed in 2019.

International engineering and operations contractor ODE, who were principal contractor for the Ormonde wind farm welcomed the group to Barrow during their UK visit.

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Peter Godfrey, ODE managing director, said: "It's been tremendously useful to revisit Ormonde and showcase the engineering required both on and offshore to make an offshore wind farm a success for the developer and local community.

"Barrow Borough Council and Vattenfall, the current operator of Ormonde, have been very helpful in making it possible to share the lessons learned from this development."

The group were welcomed to the town by Barrow mayor Tony Callister, as well as ABP managers Chris Coulter and Bob Phillips, before touring the onshore and offshore sites.

They were able to see the positive impact the sites had on the town's community by visiting the port of Barrow, harbour and support bases.

Part of the tour also included a trip to the Dock Museum to appreciate the industrial and maritime history of the town.

Ian Hatton, who was developer of Ormonde and now CEO of Yushan Energy, said: "The Hai Long project that we are undertaking with Northland Power in the Taiwan Straits is a multi-billion pound investment into the renewable infrastructure of Taiwan.

"It's easy to get caught up in the detail of building the project, but it's not until you return to a project such as Ormonde do you see the benefits brought to the local community in terms of ongoing investment and jobs.

"I hope this is what the delegation takes away from their visit to Barrow."

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Among the Taiwanese delegation were the magistrate and representatives of Changhua County, as well as industry leaders from the engineering, finance and power generation communities.

Coverage of the trip was also broadcast on Taiwan News.