Orsted and PGE eye pre-2030 switch on for second giant Baltic Sea wind farm

Orsted and PGE gave more details about the expected commissioning dates of their joint offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea, as the Danish and Polish utilities officially closed their 50:50 joint venture agreement for 2.5GW in Baltic Sea offshore wind capacity after regulatory approval in Poland.

The companies revealed that their 1.5GW Baltica 2 project could become operational before 2030.

Orsted and PGE previously had said that their first joint project, the 1GW Baltica 3 array, could become operational in 2026 as one of Poland’s first offshore wind farms.

“We will bring our decades of experience to this new market to deliver green energy, create industrial development and local jobs, and assist Poland in becoming a leading offshore wind nation,” said Rasmus Errboe, senior vice president and head of the continental Europe region at Orsted.

Both Baltica 2 and 3 have already received environmental permits and signed grid connection agreements.

The Polish energy regulator last month had also awarded support for both projects as part of a contract for difference (CfD) scheme for a first batch of 5.9GW in pre-developed offshore wind projects that don’t need to compete in auctions. Poland later this decade plans to tender off a second, 5GW batch of offshore wind acreage that has not been pre-developed.

State-controlled PGE is the largest power producer in Poland, with extensive experience in the country’s energy sector, Wojciech Dąbrowski, president of the management board, stressed.

“The combination of the knowledge and experience of Orsted and PGE provides a solid foundation for the implementation of such an important investment in the domestic economy, which is the construction of two offshore wind farms in the Polish Exclusive Economic Zone of the Baltic Sea,” he added.