Discussion of issues related to the development of the offshore in the Baltic Sea were the main goal of the second edition of the Summer Day event organised by the Polish Electricity Association (PKEE). A meeting with EU officials, new members of the European Parliament, heads of companies, and representatives of accredited organisations took place last week in Brussels.

​

The President of the Polish Electricity Association Henryk Baranowski, who opened the event, emphasized that the Polish energy sector has aspirations to make investments on the Baltic Sea. “PGE Baltica is planning to deliver its first wind electricity by 2026. Through the Baltic Offshore project, we want to show our commitment to making the energy sector climate neutral,” announced Mr Baranowski, who went on to assure that other major projects are already in the pipeline. “PGE is planning to build a further 2.5GW of PVs. Moreover, Tauron announced that it would add 900MW of onshore to its energy mix by 2025. Thanks to PKEE members new investments, we are pleased to say that the share of RES in power generation in Poland is estimated at 27 per ecnt by 2030,” he noted.

 

“Huge potential” for “clean, affordable electricity”

 

During the high-level panel, its participants – Monika Morawiecka, President of the Management Board PGE Baltica; Pernille Weiss, Danish Politician and Member of the European Parliament; Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope; and Gunnar Groebler, Senior Vice President (Wind) at Vattenfall – discussed local solutions for the challenges posed by the transformation of the EU’s energy sector. The debate focused on the development of wind energy on the Baltic Sea.

 

WindEurope’s CEO, Giles Dickson, when asked about the chances of developing Baltic Sea offshore admitted that the potential is huge. “The Baltic has strong and stable winds, less extreme conditions than the North Sea, shallow water depths and short distances to shore. There’s already 1.5GW of offshore wind installed in the Baltic, 12 per cent of Europe’s current offshore capacity. But we foresee this rising up to 9–14GW by 2030. This will deliver clean, affordable electricity as well as a significant opportunity to create jobs and investments in coastal regions,” Mr Dickson explained, adding that he expects Poland will be a key driver in delivering those volumes.

 

Baltic Sea set to become world’s “second largest wind farm location”

 

Monika Morawiecka, President of the Management Board PGE Baltica, indicated that according to the estimates, by 2030 the Baltic Sea would become the second largest wind farm location in the world. This is a great opportunity also for Poland. “If we implement the plan to install more than 4.6GW of capacity by 2030, we will become one of the biggest players in the European offshore sector,” she said. “Moreover, it brings great potential for the economic development of the country, increasing the innovation of the Polish maritime, shipbuilding and steel industry, and the transformation towards a low-carbon economy,” she enthused. 

 

According to Gunnar Groebler, Senior Vice President of the Wind business area at Vattenfall, the Baltic Sea is a very promising offshore wind market. “The Polish 10GW ambition for 2040 is particularly encouraging. Cross-border co-operation in the region will be key to utilise the full potential,” he stated.

 

Pernille Weiss, Danish politician and member of the European Parliament, pointed out that the construction of offshore wind farms is a relatively young way of acquiring electricity – and that the pioneers of this technology are the Danes. “We opened the first Vindeby farm with a capacity of only 3MW in 1991,” she reminded the audience.

Ms Weiss went on to highlight the global leaders in terms of power generated at sea as the UK, Germany and China. “Four wind farms belonging to Denmark with wind energy producing enough electricity to cover 44 per cent of its domestic consumption last year,” she announced. 

 

The event, which gathered nearly 300 people, was also attended by representatives of the Polish energy sector, including Jacek Kościelniak, vice-president of the management board for financial affairs of Energa and Tomasz Siwak, vice-president of the management board for the development strategy of Enea Wytwarzanie.