EU’s largest offshore windfarm advances amid industry decarbonisation
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide €400 million ($417m) in funding for the Baltica 2 offshore wind farm in Polish waters, set to be the EU’s largest wind farm with 1.5 GW capacity. This comes at a time when European industry is in desperate need of clean energy supply to secure its competitiveness amid decarbonisation, especially coal-reliant Poland.
The 50/50 wind farm joint venture between Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) and Ørsted aims to commission its 107 turbines in 2027. Together with its sister project Baltica 3, scheduled for 2030 commissioning, the farms are to have total capacity of 2.5 GW and double PGE’s existing renewable energy portfolio. The strategic investment will contribute to Poland’s energy transition and security.
This comes after EIB agreed in 2023 to loan up to €610m for the construction of the 1.14 GW Baltic Power offshore wind farm, which will be the first in Poland when it commissions in 2026. The 51/49 Orlen/Northland Power JV will comprise 76 wind turbines (see Kallanish passim).
Wind power is touted to be a critical supplier of the energy required for steel industry decarbonisation as well as a major future steel demand driver. Offshore wind is an entirely new market in Poland but with huge prospects thanks to its Baltic Sea access. The country anticipates 18 GW of offshore production by 2040.
For wind turbines, over 90% of total material requirements are steel and concrete. Steel requirement is projected to fall from 140 tonnes/MW to 110t/MW by 2050 for gearbox turbines, and from 400 t/MW to 320 t/MW for direct-drive turbines, according to Energy Transitions Commission research.
Poland’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal Poland, will soon need to decide whether it wants to convert its flagship Dabrowa Gornicza plant to electric arc furnace-based produciton or prolong blast furnace operation by other means. It, along with Poland’s scrap-consuming EAF-based mills in the south of the country, will need to source renewable energy distributed from wind farms in the north.
Adam Smith Poland
