Ocean Winds has secured a 25-year differential contract for offshore wind farms in Poland

Ocean Winds (OW), a joint venture specialising in offshore wind energy equally owned by EDP Renewables and ENGIE, has secured a 25-year differential contract awarded by the Polish Energy Regulatory Office for 369.5 MW in B&C-Wind offshore wind projects.

The conclusion of this contract marks a key point in the investment preparation phase and brings the OW closer to the final investment decision (ODI), and places B&C-Wind among the most advanced offshore wind farm projects in Poland.

The investment area is located in the Polish exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea, approximately 23 km from the coast. The offshore wind farms will be constructed over an area of 90 km2 in waters that are between 30 and 60 metres deep.

According to the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment and the act on supporting electricity generation in offshore wind farms, the price of 319.60 PLN per MWh was assumed in the differential contract, which corresponds to 71.00 EUR/MWh (at the current EUR/PLN exchange rate of 4.50 PLN).

The award of the differential contract allowed us to reach a key point in the preparation stage of the B&C Wind project, which will accelerate work on the Final Investment Decision (ODI) and the commencement of construction works. We have experience of working with numerous Polish contractors on projects in the UK, Belgium and Portugal. We are looking forward to working with them (and more!) in our country. This is only OW’s first step in Poland, the offshore wind development programme is accelerating and together with our Polish partners we have the ambition to develop, build and operate many new projects’, comments Grzegorz Górski, COO Ocean Winds and CEO OW Poland.

Following the successful conclusion of the contract, OW now has 0.5 GW of installed capacity at facilities in operation and 3.7 GW of secured capacity at projects scheduled for 2021 and beyond, which means a total of 4.2 GW of capacity at facilities in operation and scheduled for development.

Ocean Winds has made developing projects in Poland one of its priorities due to the dynamic development of this market and its solid fundamentals. This decision reflects OW’s profile as a company
as a company that recognises the potential of an investment early on and is focused on building value from the beginning of the project lifecycle.

B&C Wind’s offshore wind farms will significantly contribute to the transformation of the Polish energy sector towards climate neutrality. They will also increase strategic security of energy supply by reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuel imports. Offshore wind energy has been identified as one of the key elements of Poland’s energy policy until 2040. (PEP 40), and OW wants to play an important role in its implementation.

rel. PortalMorski.pl