Construction of Baltic Power, Poland’s first offshore wind farm, has reached a major milestone. Installation of all 78 giant foundations (monopiles) has been completed at the offshore construction site. The project—developed jointly by ORLEN Group and Northland Power—is now entering its decisive phase, with the first deliveries of clean electricity expected to reach Polish consumers later this year.
Scale of operations and logistical challenges
Driving the foundations into the seabed was an unprecedented engineering undertaking in Polish territorial waters. Each of the 78 monopiles is a steel structure weighing 1,300–1,700 tonnes and measuring up to 100 metres in length. The operation involved an impressive fleet of more than 20 vessels, including jack-up heavy-lift units, tugboats, supply ships and environmental monitoring vessels. Safety and precision were overseen around the clock by roughly 500 crew members.
Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO of ORLEN, highlighted the significance of the achievement:
“Building an offshore wind farm is a tremendous logistical challenge. The success of these unprecedented activities—given the scope and scale of the work—is a source of pride for us. No one in Poland has tackled an investment like this before. (…) Completing this stage brings us closer to our goal: delivering clean electricity from the Baltic Sea to millions of customers in Poland later this year.”
During the works, particular emphasis was placed on protecting the marine ecosystem. The installation area was surrounded by a double underwater air bubble curtain, designed to reduce the noise and vibrations generated by piling hammers.
Project progress
Baltic Power is currently Poland’s most advanced offshore wind project. Beyond the foundations, work is also progressing rapidly in other areas. Both planned offshore substations are already in place, and more than one-third of the wind turbines have been installed. A very high level of completion—over 90%—has also been recorded for the onshore transmission infrastructure.
Christine Healy, President and CEO of Northland Power, noted:
“The safe and precise installation of all 78 foundations requires robust planning, coordination and specialist expertise—and confirms our capabilities in delivering large-scale offshore wind projects. This is an important milestone for the project and reflects the strength of our combined teams.”
(The original article refers to a table showing the current completion status of individual components, but the table was not included in the text provided.)
Energy for millions of households
Located around 23 km offshore, roughly opposite Łeba and Choczewo, the Baltic Power wind farm will ultimately cover an area of 130 km². Its installed capacity will be approximately 1.2 GW, enabling annual production of around 4 TWh of electricity—enough to cover about 3% of Poland’s current power demand.
The entire offshore installation campaign, coordinated by the Marine Coordination Centre in Łeba, is scheduled to conclude in the second half of 2026, when the wind farm reaches full operational capacity. By then, the project will have involved a total of around 80 vessels and more than 4,500 workers.
Source: managerplus.pl
