Every one of Baltic Power’s 76 turbines now stands in the Baltic Sea, closing the installation phase of a wind farm valued at roughly PLN 20 billion. Orlen and Northland Power expect the plant to hit full capacity by the end of 2026, with commercial operation beginning at the turn of 2026 and 2027.
Construction is due to finish this year. The farm’s installed capacity reaches almost 1.2 GW, and each of the 76 units is rated at 15 MW. So far the machines have worked in batches, then been taken offline for a few or a dozen-plus days to go through the necessary inspections.
First electricity entered the national grid on 10 July and has been flowing in ever since. Baltic Power holds no licence yet, so the power is sold under an extraordinary route: the company pays a pre-licence fee into the state budget and trades through Orlen Energia, with which it has a power purchase agreement.
The contract for difference attached to the project does not apply at this point, which means the electricity is sold at market prices, spot market included, with no state top-up of the kind producers normally receive when exchange prices fall below the agreed threshold. The guaranteed price for first-phase Polish offshore projects was set at PLN 319.6 per MWh back in 2021; indexed for inflation, it equals about PLN 459 per MWh for 2026.
– It took us 15 years to symbolically launch Baltic Power’s operations – said Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO of Orlen.
– All 76 turbines are installed. It is a great moment – he added.
– Thanks to Baltic Power, every Polish town has gained access to the sea. All of us will use electricity from Baltic Power. It is a completely new source of power that has given rise to an entire sector of the Polish economy – stressed the head of the company.
– It is a breakthrough project for Poland and an excellent example of what strong partnerships can achieve – said Christine Healy, CEO of Northland Power.
Radar, cameras and the autumn crane route
Environmental rules shaped the design in a way onshore wind rarely can. Turbine blades sit so high that most birds fly beneath them, and the lowest point of a rotor blade over the sea is 22-25 metres above the water. Farms are also sited away from migration corridors, though that does not remove every conflict.
– An unusual challenge identified for this project are the cranes, which during migration across the Baltic, especially in autumn, fly through the farm area – said Michał Śmielak, Environment Lead at Baltic Power.
– Baltic Power will have an automatic turbine shutdown system, made up of a radar and a camera system. It will be able to identify the species and the flight path, and when cranes are detected it will shut down individual turbines in sequence – explained Śmielak.
The idea draws on experience from other markets, where selective shutdowns are already used on land. Śmielak also raised the question of what happens to the hardware after at least 30 years of operation. The monopile foundations, weighing several hundred tonnes each, are driven tens of metres into the seabed, and there is no simple way to pull them out or cut them away.
– Offshore wind is still a relatively new industry, so as a whole sector we keep learning, decommissioning included. When a farm’s life ends, all of its elements should be removed – said the expert.
– If it turns out that these elements have become a significant habitat for marine organisms, the environmental decision requires those fragments of the structure to be left in place in order to protect the newly created ecosystem – he concluded.
Two offshore substations and a Polish first on land
The farm’s power is gathered at two offshore substations, where transformers step up the voltage before export cables carry it to a landing station and then into the National Power System. More than 200 kilometres of internal submarine cables connect the turbines to those hubs.
– Offshore power stations are the core of the whole project and at the same time the gateway through which the energy produced reaches land. We collect power from 76 turbines there, using more than 200 kilometres of internal underwater cables – described Adam Rymarczuk, Deputy OSS Manager at Baltic Power.
– Connecting offshore wind farms is an unprecedented project for our system – added the Baltic Power representative.
– The uniqueness of this task is clearly visible at the PSE station in Choczewo. New infrastructure was designed there specifically to carry power out from the Baltic, using single-phase voltage transformers. It is the first case of its kind in the Polish power industry – said Rymarczuk.
Security arrangements run parallel to the engineering. The farm, its service base and the connection infrastructure are covered by an integrated protection plan with tailored monitoring, reconnaissance and response systems. Baltic Power says it stays in permanent dialogue with civil and military authorities, public administration, the national grid operator and the Maritime Unit of the Border Guard. The company does not disclose the details.
Once the last tests are done, the 76 turbines are to work simultaneously rather than in batches. Questions about the farm’s efficiency and profitability will only be answered after at least 30 days of uninterrupted operation.
Źródło: WNP.pl, Fot. Kacper Świsłowski / PTWP
