Port in Leba selected as a service centre for Baltic Power OWF
A service centre for the Baltic Power offshore wind farm will be built in the Port of Leba. Its construction under a joint venture by Orlen Group and Northland Power is planned for 2024-26. Baltic Power has won a tender for land lease in the Port of Leba.
Baltic Power has secured an area of 1.1 ha on which an offshore wind farm base will be constructed in Łeba, PKN Orlen said on Tuesday. The key element is the berth within the complex, which needs reconstruction to meet the parameters, allowing it to carry on logistic operations.
Baltic Power, a subsidiary of Orlen Group, has won a tender for land lease in the port of Leba, intended for an offshore wind farm. The site will host a service facility for the investment, whose construction is planned for 2024-26. Some 70 turbines with a total capacity of up to 1.2 GW will be erected at sea and serviced by vessels operating from the port in Leba.
– According to the schedule adopted, the construction of the support base will start in 2023, be completed in 2024, and its estimated cost will be around PLN 20-30m – the company explained.
PKN Orlen has announced that the Baltic Power service base will operate 3-4 CTVs (Crew Transfer Vessels) designed to transport service personnel. Each vessel can take up to 24 technicians and the necessary equipment on board at a time. The base will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but its work rhythm will largely depend on the seasons and prevailing weather conditions at sea.
– The service base is the heart of the offshore wind farm operation. Among all the locations we analysed, Leba best meets the key criteria, such as proximity to the farm and potential for infrastructure development – Baltic Power CEO Jarosław Broda stressed, quoted in a PKN Orlen announcement.
Broda also pointed out that Łeba is also a dynamically developing centre, which in the future may play an important role in the supply chain for the offshore wind industry.
As the management centre for operations and maintenance of offshore wind farms, the support base will include an office facility, a spare parts warehouse, and a workshop. Fifty people responsible for the maintenance and operation of the offshore wind farm will work on site.
The most important tasks of the technicians operating from the base will include maintaining the farm’s smooth operation by, among others, periodic inspections of the wind turbines. During the inspections, technicians will verify the efficiency, wear, and operating parameters of individual turbine elements per strictly defined procedures and carry out current repairs if necessary.
The whole works at the Leba service base will be supervised by the production management IT system, which, while monitoring the efficiency of the wind farm, will also identify turbines or their components requiring, e.g. routine replacement.
PKN Orlen reminded us that the construction of the Baltic Power wind farm is a joint venture between Orlen Group and Northland Power. With approximately 131 square kilometres, the entire investment is located 23 kilometres north of the Baltic Sea coastline, at the level of Leba and Choczewo.
In September 2021, a consortium of Pekao Investment Banking and Green Giraffe was selected as financial advisor for the Baltic Power offshore wind farm. It will gain financing to implement PKN Orlen’s project in partnership with Northland Power. In addition, the company announced that Orlen Group would allocate PLN 47bn to investments in modern energy, including offshore wind projects, by 2030.
source: PortalMorski.pl
