Baltic Power with booking agreements for the construction of the foundations of a wind farm in the Baltic Sea

Baltic Power has signed agreements for the execution, delivery and installation of offshore substations and foundations for a wind farm located on the Baltic Sea. Some of the elements necessary for the foundation of the towers for the turbines will be manufactured in Poland, PKN Orlen reported.

Informing on Friday about the conclusion of agreements for the construction of the wind farm in the Baltic Sea, the company announced that later this year the company responsible for the investment, Baltic Power, will contract all the key components and services necessary for the planned start of the investment in 2024.

– According to the schedule, the joint investment of Orlen Group and Northland Power will start producing zero-emission energy in 2026. – the announcement recalled.

As reported by PKN Orlen, “Baltic Power has signed contracts for the construction, supply and installation of offshore substations and foundations for the wind farm located in the Baltic Sea”. In doing so, the company explained that “in accordance with the agreement, part of the elements necessary for the foundation of the towers for the turbines will be manufactured in Poland”.

– The development of offshore wind energy is the foundation for building the carbon neutrality of Orlen Group. Although it is a new area of our activity, the Baltic Power wind farm is the most dynamically developing project in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea. As we enter the decisive phase of preparations, we are already contracting the key components necessary to realise the investment,” stressed PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek, quoted in the company’s press release.

At the same time, he stressed that the experience gained in the organisation of the supply chain covering the wind farm construction project in the Baltic Sea, Orlen Group wants to use also in further projects of this kind.

– In total, we are applying for 11 offshore wind farm concessions in Poland, and we also want to implement similar projects in the Baltic countries, Obajtek added.

PKN Orlen explained that the foundations of the wind turbines for the Baltic farm will be formed by steel piles weighing up to 2,400 tonnes and measuring up to 120 metres in height, which will be driven by specialised vessels into the seabed to a depth of up to 50 metres. The foundations for all elements of the farm’s infrastructure will be provided by Steelwind Nordenham.

Smulders, in turn, will be responsible for providing the transition elements to connect the foundations to the wind turbine towers installed on them. As reported by Orlen, these are specialised steel structures, some of which will be built, among others, at plants located in Poland.

The transport and installation of the finished components at sea will be carried out by Danish Van Oord, one of several companies operating on the global market that carry out installation work for offshore wind farm components. Its fleet of more than 60 vessels, as highlighted in the information, also includes those built specifically for work in the Baltic Sea.

“Winning such important contracts is a milestone for the Baltic Power project,” assessed Northland Power’s acting vice-president of offshore construction Christian Voelcker, who was quoted in the news release. At the same time, he pointed out, referring to the experience of offshore wind farm projects completed so far in Germany and other parts of Europe, that “Baltic Power will play an important role in Poland’s transformation towards clean energy production”.

– For Northland, this is an excellent opportunity to strengthen our commitment to the European offshore market and support the creation of an offshore wind energy hub in the Baltic Sea in cooperation with PKN Orlen. We look forward to the further development and success of the project,” Voelcker conveyed.

PKN Orlen stressed that offshore substations – a key element of offshore infrastructure – have also been secured by reservation agreements. The company said that in the area of approx. 130 sq km of the Baltic Power farm, there will be two substations, which through a network of internal cables will receive the energy produced by over 70 turbines with a minimum capacity of 14 MW, and then send it through an export cable to the onshore substation.

– Each substation is a steel structure weighing about 2,500 tonnes, set on a foundation and rising about 20m above the water surface, the release explained. A consortium of Bladt Industries and Semco Maritime will be responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of the marine power stations.

PKN Orlen conveyed that Bladt is an offshore-focused supplier of components for substations implemented, among others, at facilities in Poland; Semco, on the other hand, is one of the leaders in the offshore wind sector, having successfully played a key role in the construction of more than 20 substations for offshore wind farms.

– Baltic Power consistently meets its schedule and selects suppliers who can boast not only extensive experience, but also a willingness to carry out some of the work in Poland. For us as an investor, this is a very important argument that translates into building a local value chain for the offshore wind sector. Each of these companies is already intensively looking for sub-suppliers in Poland,” said Baltic Power board member Jarosław Broda.

PKN Orlen recalled that the wind farm in the Baltic Sea will be located about 23 km from the shore at the level of Łeba and Choczew. Geotechnical studies of the sea bed there were completed in June. Among other things, a booking agreement for the transport and installation of the turbines was signed in July, securing one of the 15 specialised installation vessels available worldwide.

– Upon completion in 2026, the Baltic Power offshore wind farm will be able to power more than 1.5 million households with clean energy, PKN Orlen stressed.

Source: PortalMorski.pl