The ORLEN Group obtained the final decision of the Minister of Infrastructure to allocate five new locations for the construction of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea with a total capacity of approximately 5.2 GW. Four of them are located on the Oder Bank, near Świnoujście, where the company is building its installation port for offshore wind installations. The fifth location is located at Ławica Słupska. This area borders the site where the Baltic Power wind farm with a capacity of up to 1,200 MW is to be built, which the ORLEN Group is implementing in cooperation with the Canadian partner Northland Power.
The final decision to grant the license means that the ORLEN Group will be able to start work on preparing designs for five new wind farms. First of all, the following will be done: wind measurements, preliminary geotechnical tests and environmental tests, necessary in administrative and design processes.
The launch of new offshore wind investments will allow approximately 7 million households to be supplied with green, zero-emission energy.
Area and power of individual locations:
14.E.1 – ok 80 km²; aprox. 800 MW,
14.E.2 – ok 90 km²; aprox. 900 MW,
14.E.3 – ok 125 km²; aprox. 1200 MW,
14.E.4 – ok 150 km²; aprox. 1200 MW,
46.E1 – ok 110 km²; aprox. 1000 MW.
General investment schedule
Obtaining a license to build a farm at sea is the beginning of a long road to the creation of an offshore wind installation. The whole process consists of four stages.
The investor's task is to obtain:
- location permits,
- connection agreement
Additionally, he must carry out:
- geological research,
- geophysical research and
- environmental analyses.
This stage ends with the investor obtaining a final decision on environmental conditions.
This stage starts with:
- performing geotechnical research and
- wind measurements
And then:
- a construction design is carried out and
- the organization of the supply chain begins.
To determine detailed technical solutions for the future farm, you need:
- assessment of geotechnical conditions,
- results of productivity analyzes made on the basis of wind measurements, as well as
- current market conditions
After preparing the technical concept and completing the construction design, the investor can apply for a building permit.
The investor's task is to organize the production and delivery of the offshore wind farm components and connection.
The whole process consists of two parts. The first one is to ensure a supply chain for manufacturing units. It is about:
- turbines, which are responsible for an average of 40 percent investment outlays related to the construction of a new wind farm
- foundations
The second part of the supply chain concerns power output devices. The most important are:
- marine transmission cables,
- marine and onshore transformer station,
- land transmission cables.
The last stage is related to the preparation of construction logistics, construction, acceptance and occupancy permit.
The construction of an offshore wind farm can be divided into several stages:
- transport of wind farm elements from manufacturers to the place of storage (in the case of ORLEN Neptun this will be the Installation Terminal in Świnoujście),
- preparation of the ground, e.g. cleaning the bottom and then stabilizing it by pouring stone, both for the foundations and the cable route,
- foundation installation,
- installation of a marine power station,
- cabling installation,
- assembly of individual wind power plant components: tower, nacelle, rotor,
- construction of an onshore power station,
- construction of an operational base.