Polenergia and Equinor with contract for installation vessels for Baltic 2 and 3 projects

Polenergia and Equinor have signed a very important contract for the offshore wind farms Baltic 2 and Baltic 3. After ordering turbines, foundations and offshore and onshore cables, the two companies have signed an extremely important contract for installation vessels. The vessels will be used to transport and install 100 huge wind turbines at sea. The Bałtyk 2 and 3 projects, with a total capacity of 1440 MW, have complete offshore and onshore construction permits. The Baltic offshore wind farms are one of the largest infrastructure projects in Poland’s history.

As part of the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 projects, 100 wind turbines with a capacity of 14.4 MW each will be built in the Baltic Sea. These are the largest turbines ever produced by Siemens-Gamesa. The wind towers will reach a height of 260 metres, which means that each will be taller than the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. When the foundations, which are below the surface of the water, are taken into account, the total height of one turbine will almost equal that of the Eiffel Tower. Installation vessels will be used to transport and install the huge turbines. The contract for the vessels was signed by Polenergia and Equinor with Cadeler.

– The contract for the installation vessels for the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 offshore wind farms is one of the final steps in their construction. The scale of the project is best demonstrated by the numbers. With the installation of 100 powerful turbines offshore, the total installed capacity of the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 projects will reach an impressive 1440 MW. And this will allow us to power more than 2 million households with clean, renewable energy. The Baltic offshore wind farms are one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Poland. It is also a strategic project for Polish energy security. The contract for installation vessels is another extremely important stage in its implementation, says Jerzy Zań, President of the Management Board of Polenergia S.A.

Cadeler is a global company based in Denmark, which is a provider of services related to the installation, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. Cadeler intends to use two types of installation vessels – P-class and O-class – to carry out the contracted tasks. The P-class vessels are designed to operate in the world’s most challenging locations and have the most advanced equipment on board. The vessels have increased transit capacity, reducing installation time and thus lowering the overall cost of building offshore wind farms.

P-class vessels have a deck area of 5,600 m2, a payload capacity of more than 17,600 tonnes and a main crane capacity that exceeds 2,600 tonnes within a 46-metre radius of the vessel. O-class vessels are based on a structure of six legs. The main crane mounted on O-class vessels has a lifting capacity of up to 1,600 tonnes within 40 metres of the vessel. The main hook can reach 160 metres above the main deck. The two classes of vessel complement each other when working at sea, increasing the flexibility and efficiency of the operations carried out. The vessels of both types are more than 150 metres long.

– The signed contract for the installation vessels is another step towards the final investment decision and the construction of the offshore wind farms Baltic 2 and Baltic 3. The construction of such offshore infrastructure is very complex and requires a specialised fleet of vessels. They will install state-of-the-art and highly efficient wind turbines at a depth of several tens of metres. We are pleased to be able to use our international experience in the construction of offshore energy infrastructure,’ says Michał Jerzy Kołodziejczyk, CEO of Equinor Polska.

Offshore wind farms Baltic – key information Polenergia and Equinor are jointly implementing three offshore wind farm projects Baltic in the Polish sea, with a total capacity of up to 3,000 MW.

The Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 projects are being built in the first phase of offshore wind energy development in Poland. The projects are located in the Polish exclusive economic zone of the Baltic Sea, between 22 and 37 km from the coastline. The first energy from the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 wind farms is expected to flow into the grid as early as 2027, with the commercial phase of their operation planned from 2028.

In the next phase of offshore wind energy development in Poland, Polenergia and Equinor are developing the Bałtyk 1 project, which will be 81 km from the shore. With a capacity of up to 1560 MW, Bałtyk 1 is the largest wind farm project in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea and is being prepared for auction in 2025. The Baltic offshore wind farm will power more than 4 million households with green energy.

Source: PortalMorski.pl