PKN Orlen: Baltic Power signed contract for transportation and installation of offshore wind turbines
Baltic Power has signed a contract for the transportation and installation of approximately 70 turbines for an offshore wind farm. The investment, to be implemented between 2024 and 2026, envisages a farm with a total generating capacity of up to 1.2 GW, PKN Orlen said on Monday.
The Orlen Group company and Danish company Cadeler have signed a booking agreement for the transportation and installation of around 70 turbines for the Baltic Power offshore wind farm – a joint project between PKN Orlen and Northland Power Inc. In the next steps, the company will select suppliers of turbines, foundations, internal and export cables, offshore and onshore substation contractors, and service and maintenance of the farm. The investment, which is planned for 2024-2026, envisages a farm with a total generating capacity of up to 1.2 GW, PKN Orlen said on Monday.
PKN Orlen said that Cadeler specialises in the installation of offshore turbines. Since 2012, it has installed nearly 400 offshore wind turbines and more than 500 foundations, which together produce energy for more than 5.5 million European households.
It added that the signed reservation agreement guarantees the availability of a specialised vessel for turbine installation during the construction phase. The contract proper will be signed once Baltic Power has made a final investment decision.
It was pointed out that in June this year Baltic Power – as the first among the developers in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea – finalised geotechnical surveys.
– Measurements were carried out on an area of more than 130 square kilometres of the farm and a cable route of more than 30 kilometres leading energy from the sea to the land. Thousands of measurements and soundings were carried out by a team of several hundred researchers, technicians and operators as part of the ongoing work. In total, the vessels involved in the campaign worked for more than 20,000 hours. During this time, several thousand metres of specialised boreholes were made in the places of planned foundations of elements of the farms’ infrastructure. Their depth, depending on the place of conducting the surveys, reached even several dozen metres,” reported PKN Orlen.
It was recalled that besides the advanced Baltic Power project with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW, Orlen Group has also applied for eleven concessions with a total estimated potential of over 10 GW. This is a capacity that would be able to meet 25 per cent of Poland’s electricity needs. In addition, the company is analysing the possibility of similar investments in the Lithuanian and Latvian areas of the Baltic Sea.
According to Poland’s Energy Policy, between 9 and 11 GW of renewable capacity is to be built in Polish waters by 2040. Investments in ports, carried out with the participation of Polish suppliers, will be a significant impulse for the development of the regions and the national economy, the release noted.
– Zero-emission power generation is the foundation of Orlen Group’s long-term development. We already have about 650 MW of capacity installed in renewable sources and we want to dynamically increase this share. We are carrying out advanced work on acquiring port locations and are establishing cooperation with proven suppliers,” said PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek, quoted in the press release.
– We are convinced that the experience gained in the Baltic Power project will enable us to effectively implement further offshore wind energy projects, the president added.
– The conclusion of the contract is an important step in the implementation of our procurement strategy, which assumes securing all critical components and services necessary to implement the project within the assumed schedule this year. The reserved vessel is one of about fifteen vessels in the world capable of installing the latest generation of turbines,” emphasised Baltic Power board member Jarosław Broda.
Source: PortalMorski.pl
