Baltic Power, a member
of the ORLEN Group, has signed a grid connection agreement with Polskie Sieci
Elektroenergetyczne for its offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. The agreement
marks another milestone in preparations for the wind farm project, providing a
guarantee that clean energy generated by offshore wind can be fed into the
national power system.
‘We aim to start producing electricity in the
Pomerania region in the coming years that will power up to one million
households. This is a huge venture requiring a significant extension of the
transmission network in the north of Poland. Investments in this segment will
need to be made by Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne. The agreement we have
signed is a clear sign our project is entering the advanced phase of
preparations,’ said Daniel Obajtek, President
of the PKN ORLEN Management Board.
The ORLEN Group is making preparations for the
construction of an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea with a capacity of up
to 1.2 GW. The project will be located approximately 23 kilometres off the
coast of Łeba and Choczewo. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be
exported via an underground cable connection linking the turbines with an onshore
power station. A Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne-operated station will be
built specifically for the purposes of receiving and transmitting electricity
from offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea.
One of the pillars of the ORLEN2030 strategy
unveiled late last year is to expand the power generation business through
investments in low- and zero-emissions generation sources, with PLN 47bn to be
spent on such investments, including offshore wind, by the end of the decade.
The ORLEN Group is the first fuel and energy
company in Central Europe to declare an intention to achieve emission
neutrality by 2050. By 2030, the Group will reduce its CO2 emissions
from its current refining and petrochemical assets by 20%, and CO2/MWh
emissions from electricity generation assets by 33%. The project to build an
offshore wind farm, now at an advanced stage of preparation, is one of the key
ventures that will be instrumental in achieving these objectives.