PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. (PGE) and Ørsted have decided to commence discussions regarding the sale of a 50% stake in two offshore wind farm projects in the Polish Baltic Sea with a total capacity of up to 2.5GW and the cooperation terms for their development.
The subject of discussions will be a sale of 50% of the shares in each of Elektrownia Wiatrowa Baltica-3 sp. z o.o., which is developing a project with a planned capacity of approximately 1GW by 2026; and Elektrownia Wiatrowa Baltica-2 sp z o.o., which is developing a project with a planned capacity of approximately 1.5 GW by 2030.
At the end of last year, PGE, the Polish state-owned power company, launched a search for a strategic partner to prepare, build and operate the two offshore wind farms.
Work on the wind farms is due to start in 2022. The proposed wind farms are situated 20 kilometres from the Polish coastline and are expected to produce first electricity in 2025-2026.
PGE has recently presented forecasts showing Poland’s Baltic Sea having the capacity to generate 9GW to 12GW of offshore wind energy, ranking it second only to the North Sea, which has a capacity for 13GW.
In total, 13 wind farm projects are under consideration in Poland’s Baltic Sea territory with an ambition to generate 25% of Poland’s energy by offshore wind by 2040. The plan currently being debated is for 4.6GW to be installed by 2030, scaling up to 6GW by 2035 and 10GW by 2040.