Poland's First Offshore Wind Farm Reaches Key Milestone

A nearly completed offshore wind farm in Poland has successfully tested the transmission line connecting it to a new onshore substation. The milestone marks an important step in the country's efforts to reduce its reliance on coal-fired power.

The Baltic Power project, with a planned capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW), is being jointly developed by state-controlled oil company Orlen and Canada's Northland Power. It forms part of a broader strategy under which investors, including Equinor and Ørsted, plan to build 6 GW of offshore wind capacity along Poland's Baltic coast by 2030.

Baltic Power is expected to generate about 4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity a year, enough to supply more than 1.5 million Polish households with clean energy.

Poland is prioritizing offshore wind as the construction of its first nuclear power plants remains years away. The push to diversify the country's energy mix has also been accelerated by security concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(Reuters, Max)