Ocean Winds – one of the world’s largest offshore developers – will hold a Suppliers Day for potential suppliers of services and components for offshore wind farms in Poland on 9 June 2022 in a hybrid format. It is an opportunity for Ocean Winds to show its key position on the Polish market and answer questions asked by the suppliers. During the registration process each participant may ask a question, the registration form is available here.

In an interview with BalticWind.EU, Kacper Kostrzewa, BC-WIND Project Director, outlined the main features of the Suppliers Day and the position of Ocean Winds in the offshore wind development process.

In Poland we are dealing with a huge number of declarations of new energy companies intending to build wind farms in the Baltic Sea. What distinguishes OW?

Ocean Winds is one of the global and largest players in the offshore market. We develop projects both in Europe, the United States and Asia. By the end of 2022 Ocean Winds’ offshore wind power capacity will reach over 11 GW. In Poland, our company owns the BC-Wind project in the Baltic Sea and we are ready for further projects in this area. At the beginning of the year, we have submitted applications for another 9 areas. It is worth emphasising that we declared in our application that if we are granted the area 46.E.1, adjacent to our project, then thanks to our capabilities and the scale of the projects, we will achieve cost synergies and be ready to share these synergies, e.g. lower the price agreed in the differential contract. Our undoubted advantage is also the competence and experience gained on many markets.

What are the benefits of OW’s global position for suppliers in Poland?

Ocean Winds treats the Baltic region as a priority. We declare a long-term presence on this market and we are willing to cooperate with suppliers for many years going forward. On the other hand, OW’s global position and the projects that we are developing in Europe, the US and Korea provide a unique opportunity for Polish companies to start cooperation not only within the domestic supply chain, but also to have access to OW offshore projects developed around the world. Therefore, we are willing to cooperate with Polish companies that are able to perform their orders also outside Poland.

Does it mean that the participation of Polish suppliers in the local content of the BC-Wind project may open the opportunity for participation in the global content of Ocean Winds?

So far, we have engaged more Polish companies than foreign ones – mainly in the field of environmental work, geological surveys or various support services. We plan to continue working with Polish companies on many levels. We have experience in engaging Polish companies in projects conducted by Ocean Winds, e.g. the Polish group TELE-FONIKA Kable S.A. installed 220 kV cables to transmit energy from the Moray East offshore wind farm in Scotland. Ocean Winds can be a hub for Polish companies that will want to join supply chains for other projects in our portfolio.

Recently, many developers have been holding their supplier meetings. What can Ocean Winds offer in this respect?

The meeting on 9th of June is intended to be a conversation and to answer specific questions from suppliers. That is why we are conducting it in the formula of “100 questions to OW” and we are now collecting specific questions and issues that bother suppliers. We will try to provide answers to the most important issues. We are intensively developing the BC-Wind project and we have recently signed an agreement with the port of Wladyslawowo to prepare our service base there. We are keen to start working with Polish companies on the local supply chain. We invite you to contact us directly. For those who are not able to meet us in Warsaw, we provide online access to the event.

We invite you to participate in the Suppliers Day!