Baltic Sea’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Advances Towards Auction

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PUBLISHED APR 10, 2024 11:00 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

With the construction of Poland’s largest offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea on course, Equinor and the Polish utility company Polenergia have applied for an environmental approval for the connection infrastructure of the Baltyk I offshore wind project. The wind farm is the largest and most advanced offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea. It is the second phase of offshore wind energy development in Poland, coming after the earlier projects, Baltyk II and Baltyk III. According to the developers, the application for the environmental approval comes ahead of the planned auction for Baltyk I in 2025.

The three projects are jointly developed by Equinor and Polenergia. They will have a combined capacity of up to 3 GW, allowing 4 million Polish households to be supplied with green energy. Baltyk I is the largest of the wind farm projects, with a capacity of up to 1560 MW.  The wind farm is located about 50 miles from the coastline near the Leba Municipality.

Electricity from the project will flow via cables ashore to a connection point at the Polish Power Grid Krzemienica substation, which is under construction in the Redzikowo municipality.

“A common corridor section for the cable bringing power out of all the three Baltyk projects will significantly shorten the investment process, and make it easier and cheaper. The construction of the Baltyk I wind farm will benefit from the best practices developed in the construction of the earlier projects, Baltyk II and Baltyk III,” said Jerzy Zan, CEO of Polenergia.

The total distance prompted the developers to use direct current (HVDC) technology. This has already been installed at the largest offshore wind farm in the world - Dogger Bank in the UK, where the first power was fed into the grid last year.