PKN Orlen plans to apply for all eleven new national concessions for the construction of wind farms in the Baltic Sea. And that’s not all. President Daniel Obajtek declares that he will fight for concessions also in the Baltic states. The equipment is to provide, among others branch of the American giant General Electric. Orlen may need as much as PLN 40 billion for investments.
- Orlen wants to take over all 11 Baltic wind concessions in Poland
- President Obajtek points out that he also wants concessions in the three Baltic states
- The project to build a power plant with a capacity of 9-11 GW may cost from PLN 31-38 billion
- This year, wind farms produced less than 9 percent. energy in Poland, but in the summer months they produced half as much as between January and May
- More such information can be found on the main page of Onet.pl
– We will acquire the remaining offshore concessions in the Baltic Seato achieve economies of scale. We want to get as many of them as possible. We would like the process of allocating these concessions to be completed this year – CEO Danel Obajtek told journalists on Wednesday.
It is about eleven new licenses with a total area of 2.5 thousand sq m sq kmon which they could arise ultimately wind farms with a capacity of 9-11 GW.
For comparison, the current capacity of wind farms in Poland is 6.7 GW (ARE), and in seven months of 2021 they produced 7.9 TWh of electricity, i.e. had 8.7 percent. share in electricity production in Poland (ENTSOE). With strong production fluctuations throughout the year. In June and July, production was lower than the monthly average from January to May.
– We are looking not only at the concessions in Poland, but at the entire Baltic Sea basin, especially in Lithuania, Latvia and Estoniabut not only – added the president.
As he assured, the concern conducts a series of talks with potential investment partners regarding further offshore wind farms, not only with Synthos, about which the company has already informed.
– We’re talking to the port in Gdynia and everything indicates that we will use it as the mounting port. And when it comes to the service port, we mostly talk to port in Łeba, but further service ports will be needed for subsequent projects Obajtek also said.
Most of the deliveries from Poland
The head of Orlen emphasized that he cares about the continuity of the investment process in the construction of offshore wind farms.
– When completing the construction of the first farm, we would like to automatically start the construction of the next ones, we count on investment continuity in this area – he explained.
According to him, the first contracts for the supply of turbines, propellers or masts for the construction of the farm should be concluded at the turn of 2022 and 2023.
– We would like 50-60 percent of supplies for the construction of the first farm came from Poland – he also declared.
Strategic partnership agreement Orlen’s president has already signed with the American GE Renewable Energy. It is one of the leading manufacturers of turbines for offshore wind farms. As Obajtek pointed out during a press conference convened to inform about the agreement, GE has factories in Poland and is expanding them.
Where does the money come from?
As for the method of financing, in the opinion of the president of PKN Orlen, it will most likely be project finance. Regardless of the final form of financing, it is not to delay the investment process it assumes start of construction of the first wind farm in 2023 and its completion in 2026.
PKN Orlen currently has one concession for a farm with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW, on which the Baltic Power project is implemented. The license was also granted to PGE – the current leader in electricity production in Poland – for 1 GW of offshore farms. According to estimates by “Rzeczpospolita”, their construction by PGE is to cost PLN 3.5 billion. Counting for the planned new Orlen concessions it would be an expense of PLN 31-38 billion.
The potential for the development of offshore wind energy in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea is considered to be one of the largest in the region. It is estimated that by 2050, capacity of 28 GW (Polish Wind Energy Association) or even 45 GW (McKinsey & Company) can be installed.
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