SSE Renewables and ACCIONA Energía have agreed to explore offshore wind opportunities in Poland as the country seeks to progress the deployment of around 6GW of offshore wind energy by the end of the decade.

SSE Renewables and ACCIONA Energía, who are already cooperating on the exploration of offshore wind opportunities in Spain and Portugal, have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise a 50/50 joint venture between both companies to develop offshore wind opportunities in the Polish energy market.

Poland has set a target of generating at least 23% of its gross energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030, and at least 28.5% by 2040. The development of offshore wind energy is one of the key elements for Poland to achieve these goals, with the country setting ambitious targets of 5.9GW of offshore wind energy installed by 2030, and 11GW installed by 2040.

Currently, Poland’s Government is finalising the regulatory framework for awarding Offshore Location Licenses (OLL) for the allocation of development rights for offshore wind farms. SSE Renewables and ACCIONA Energía aim to jointly participate in the country’s awarding procedure, creating a solid alliance committed to the development of the offshore wind market in Poland.

The creation of the Polish cooperation partnership follows the announcement earlier this year that SSE Renewables and ACCIONA Energía would work together to explore offshore wind opportunities in Spain and Portugal. Both partners have also recently signed a separate Memorandum of Understanding to further progress their co-development ambitions in those markets.

SSE Renewables is leading the construction of more offshore wind energy than any other company in the world right now. This includes building the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, a joint venture with Equinor and Eni, which is part of the company’s wider 7GW development pipeline of in-construction and consented offshore wind projects.

“I am delighted to expand our cooperation with ACCIONA Energía and, in doing so, to now also include offshore wind exploration in Poland alongside Spain and Portugal in our co-development plans with our partner. There are exciting developments in the Polish offshore wind sector which is very much up and running, with a clear target for 2030 and big ambition out to 2040 and beyond. At SSE Renewables we will bring our track record as one of the world’s leading offshore wind developers to this partnership with ACCIONA Energía to build a strong wind energy pipeline beyond the UK and Ireland”, says Jim Smith, managing director of SSE Renewables.

ACCIONA Energía is very active in Poland’s renewable energy market, where it already owns and locally operates more than 100MW of onshore wind generation assets alongside a development pipeline of new projects.

“We are very satisfied with the joint work we are carrying out with SSE Renewables. We have complementary strengths and a common vision which is enabling us to move forward quickly in the Spanish and Portuguese markets. Poland is a promising country for offshore wind development in which ACCIONA Energía has an established presence for more than 15 years, with local teams and good knowledge of the market. We own and operate more than 100MW of onshore wind assets in Poland with a solid pipeline in which we are actively working”, says Rafael Mateo, CEO of Acciona Energía.

Source: SSE Renewables