ORLEN Group’s company Energa invests in new solar PV capacity in Olsztyn and Poznań regions
Two solar PV farms, PV Wielbark (Olsztyn province) with a capacity of 62 MW, and PV Gryf (Poznań province) with a capacity of 25 MW, have been put into operation by Energa Wytwarzanie, a subsidiary of Energa of the ORLEN Group. The company has invested about PLN 260m in the green energy installations that can power some 43 thousand homes. By the end of this year, the Wielbark farm will be expanded and its capacity raised to 70 MW. Next year, further PV installations with a total capacity of about 68 MW will be developed in the vicinity of the Gryf farm. The projects effectively enable the ORLEN Group to expand its portfolio of renewable energy sources, enhancing Poland’s energy security and bringing the company closer to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
‘Renewable energy sources are a cornerstone of our transformation process and a key to ensuring Poland’s energy security and independence. Therefore, in line with our strategy, we are consistently increasing our commitment to renewables development by building our own installations and acquiring attractive business assets. By 2030, we will have allocated more than PLN 50bn for renewable energy projects, increasing our renewable generation capacity to 9 GW. The opening of two new photovoltaic farms Wielbark and Gryf effectively brings us closer to achieving that goal. Last year, we produced four times more clean energy in our PV installations than the year before. New investments will accelerate this growth. Our installed PV capacity has already reached around 97 MW, and further projects will allow us to deliver significant capacity additions,’ said Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN ORLEN Management Board.
The PV Wielbark farm comprises a total of some 150 thousand panels with a unit capacity of up to 530 W. It uses over 300 inverters and around 2.5 thousand of steel was used to build it. The cost of the project is approximately PLN 200m.
The installation was developed on 119 hectares of land graded as poor quality. After construction was completed in the second half of 2022, first panels with a total capacity of about 12 MW were connected to the grid. In order to bring the other panels on stream, the nearby Wielbark distribution substation required an upgrade, which was performed by Energa Operator.
An 8 MW of installed capacity will be added to the Wielbark farm by the end of 2023, with its total capacity raised to 70 MW. Further 15 thousand panels and 19 inverters will be installed on an area spanning around 10 hectares. The facility will have the capacity to generate enough clean energy to power almost 35 thousand homes annually.
The ORLEN Group’s Energa has also expanded and put into operation its PV Gryf farm, which now has a capacity of 25 MW, allowing it to generate clean energy for some 10 thousand homes. The cost of the project is approximately PLN 60m.
Consisting of around 50 thousand panels, the PV Gryf farm is located in the Przykona commune in the Poznań Province on land reclaimed after the close-down of a lignite surface mine. The area is also home to a 31 MW wind farm and a small-sized 1 MW solar PV plant owned by the Group.
The Przykona commune will soon see the start of construction on further solar PV projects owned by the ORLEN Group: PV Mitra with a capacity of 65 MW and PV Żuki with a capacity of 2.4 MW. Once they are up and running, all renewable energy installations located in the area will generate electricity for nearly 90 thousand homes.
The portfolio of the ORLEN Group’s Energa comprises 97 MW of installed photovoltaic capacity, with the figure expected to increase to around 110 MW by the end of this year as the company brings its ongoing projects to completion. The Group produced 1.3 TWh of green energy from renewable sources last year, accounting for about 30% of its total gross output.