ORLEN’s Supervisory Board has made a conditional investment decision for the Baltic Power offshore wind farm, enabling the finalization of the design phase. The construction phase is scheduled to begin later this year, once the process of raising financing and completing building permits has been completed. At this stage, the joint investment by ORLEN and Northland Power is the most advanced offshore wind project in Poland.
– The results of the energy transition are clean, widely available energy, as well as a competitive and modern economy. By 2030, the ORLEN Group will make a leap in the development of renewable energy sources, reaching 9 GW of installed capacity. Offshore wind energy will be a key component of this change. As regional pioneers in this area, we have had to do a tremendous amount of preparatory and administrative work and build new competencies that we will be able to use on future projects. Today’s decision is a milestone that brings us significantly closer to achieving the group’s strategic goals – underlines Daniel Obajtek, President of the ORLEN Management Board.
The Baltic Power project, in which ORLEN holds more than 51% of shares, is the most advanced offshore wind farm project under construction in Poland. Its total budget is estimated at around €4.73 billion, and includes capital expenditures with insurance (at around €4.05 billion), as well as financing costs and a supplementary reserve.
The investment’s shareholders assume that its financing will be carried out under the Project Finance formula, a model in which repayment of liabilities will be based on future financial surpluses generated by the project. The Project Finance formula is particularly favorable for investments that require significant investment and time to reach full capacity, such as the construction and operation of offshore wind farms. At the same time, it fits into the financial assumptions of the updated ORLEN2030 strategy.
The Baltic Power project has all the construction permits for the onshore part of the project, as well as a permit for the construction of an offshore power connection to bring power from the farm to land. It also has secured contracts for all key components of the farm – including turbines, offshore and onshore substations, cables and foundations – along with their manufacture, transportation and installation. One of the conditions for reaching a final investment decision remains obtaining construction permits for the offshore portion of the project.
The construction of the Baltic Power offshore wind farm is one of the ORLEN Group’s key projects for achieving its strategic goal of 9 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030. The farm will be built around 23 km from the shore, at the level of Łeba and Choczew, and will consist of 76 state-of-the-art wind turbines with a unit capacity of 15 MW. With the completion of construction in 2026, the Baltic Power farm will begin producing energy to power more than 1.5 million households.
Source: ORLEN
