The Polish offshore wind sector is reaching a new milestone. For the first time, a fully equipped offshore substation will be delivered under a turn-key EPC contract by a Polish company—CRIST S.A.—marking a major step forward for Poland’s role in the European offshore wind supply chain. The agreement, signed with BC-Wind, a project under Ocean Winds, not only demonstrates growing confidence in local capabilities but also sets the stage for deeper international cooperation, technology transfer, and domestic value creation.
To discuss the significance of this development, the strategic outlook for CRIST, and the future of Poland’s offshore wind ambitions, I’m joined by Ireneusz Ćwirko, President of the Board at CRIST S.A.
Krzysztof Bulski, BalticWind.EU: It is an important day for CRIST – you have just signed an EPC contract to supply BC Wind with a fully equipped sub-station for the first stage of the Polish offshore wind.
Ireneusz Ćwirko, President of the Board, CRIST S.A.: I am very happy that BC Wind, part of Ocean Wind is dedicating an important part of their project to CRIST Group. Our subsidiary – CRIST Offshore has just signed a turn-key project with BC-Wind. It is a clear sign that Poland is becoming an important player on the European landscape of suppliers to the European offshore wind industry. CRIST Offshore and our Group has gained wide competences over decade long cooperation with the offshore sector and we believe the project for BC-Wind will prove CRIST is a reliable partner for the offshore wind on a wider scale. We are hoping to see more international players like Ocean Winds to participate in the second phase of Polish offshore projects. Poland needs to attract more of international capital and know-how transfer from such multinational names like OW. That also prove how attractive Poland is as a country for Foreign Direct Investments. We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to start a long term cooperation with OW and to contribute to the energy transition of Poland.
Krzysztof Bulski: CRIST Offshore is an EPC contractor for BC-Wind but can you explain who are your partners in that project?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: We have prepared our proposal for BC-Wind taking into account the attention the market is paying to ‘local content’ commitment. We have decided to team up with a top major supplier of electrical parts. The partner has a broad presence in Poland with key components coming from their Polish factories. In addition we have joined forces with numerous Polish companies to aim at ca 60-70% of local Polish content. We are very keen to support our Polish subcontractors and we highly appreciate their competences. It is a strong group of seasoned players and it is a big strength of our team.
Krzysztof Bulski: How big is the market of substations in the Polish offshore projects?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: We are estimating the market of the Polish offshore wind to require deliveries of ca 14 substations until 2030 and over 20 pieces in the years after 2030 – second phase of Polish offshore wind. CRIST is looking also at other international projects in the Baltic Sea. As we know Baltic Sea has a potential of over 90 GW of offshore wind. These topics had been widely discussed during recent conference held in Gdansk on how to build resilient supply chain for the European offshore wind industry. We were glad to participate in some of the panels dedicated to those issues and we highly appreciate such a wide involvement of high level officials from the Baltic States, Scandinavian and German partners as well as key stakeholders from Brussels ie. Wind Europe represented by its CEO – Giles Dickson and Head of Polish PM Advisory Group during Polish Presidency and decades long advocate of European Offshore Wind – Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. It is a clear sign how these issues are important at the European forum.
Krzysztof Bulski: What are CRIST strategic plans for the next decade in the offshore wind?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: CRIST has been dedicated to offshore wind for more that two decades. We had completed numerous projects to supply Europe with few installation vessels. Many of them have been still actively employed to new offshore wind projects across Europe. Our ‘Innovation’ vessel is working daily under the flag of an European top installation name on many new projects. In addition, CRIST has been actively involved in the deliveries of cable laying vessels for Europe. We are a key partner in the European supply chain. The track record of CRIST is there, the competences and pool of skilled labour and assets to complete more projects in that space is there and ready for new challenges. We like challenging projects and we hope EU will find appropriate tools to support a resilient European supply chain for the offshore wind. We are looking forward to complete new buildings of few installation vessels with ‘green propulsion’. We are in discussions with some of major European propulsion producers ie. Wartsila, MAN who have methanol-ready solutions. We will be glad to work on such projects. CRIST is there to serve the needs of European offshore wind and contribute to the energy transition of Europe.
Krzysztof Bulski: What makes this agreement a milestone for the offshore wind sector in Poland and more broadly in Europe?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: It is the first fully completed sub-station to be delivered on a ‘turn-key’ basis by a Polish company. All the EPC functions have to be completed by us, meaning we take a full responsibility of Engineering (E), Procurement (P) and Construction (C). Polish companies have a track record of delivering steel structures for substations and other offshore structures however never before has a fully equipped unit been produced and delivered by a Polish contractor.
Krzysztof Bulski: What kind of job creation or skills development do you anticipate as a result of this collaboration?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: Crist will hire new people to complete that task especially in the areas like procurement and project management. We have the set of skills which have been extensively used in our shipbuilding business but we will have to extend the resources to allocate seasoned team members for that project. It will be a mix of new hirings and Crist SA transfers to give the maximum comfort of the best skills in place. We will also enhance our skills in the area of closer cooperation with the design office and engineering. We are excited about the project because it will help us grow our overall competences and climb up the supply chain ladder and be a future partner for other developers seeking a reliable partner in the sub-stations space.
Krzysztof Bulski: What specific innovations or technical challenges are involved in the design and construction of the BC-Wind offshore substation?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: The design phase will be very important to have proper detailed designs that will allow for a functional product that will guarantee high level of safety, reliability and low operational cost at the same time. This is where our skills in the complicated projects delivered by Crist will play a role. Most of our vessels and engineering structures delivered over last decade have been prototypes and required high end technical skills. Those skills which are a key of our corporate DNA will contribute to the sub-station successful completion. Reliable partners like Hitachi and numerous other top international names and top Polish subcontractors will guarantee solutions of the high complexity technical challenges.
Krzysztof Bulski: How do you see this partnership influencing the Polish supply chain’s role in future offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea region and beyond?
Ireneusz Ćwirko: A team of procurement experts, engineering experts, project management specialists will create a strong base in our organisation that combined together with the Crist asset pool and solution seeking mind set of our firm will be a great foundation for a long term partnership with developers of Polish and Baltic Sea offshore projects. We can see a strong pipeline of projects coming in the next years from Poland as well as other projects from the Baltics or Scandinavia. There are tens of substations to be delivered in the next few decades and we are there to serve our clients and deliver good quality product, on time and in the budget. Worth mentioning is also our collaboration with Industrial Group Baltica that may strengthen Polish ‘product pitch’ and make a strong contribution to the ‘local content’. I am personally very happy there more value added products, requiring high end engineering will also stimulate R&D activity in our offshore wind community. Hopefully it will also have a broader impact on even more positive outlook of the industry and ignite deeper cooperation with local universities and technical institutes.
