PGE Baltica 9 project wins Contract for Difference. Baltica 9+ offshore wind farm with a 1.3 GW capacity to be built by 2032
As a result of the first-ever auction for offshore wind farms in Poland, PGE’s Baltica 9 received a two-sided Contract for Difference (CfD). At the same time PGE signed a conditional agreement with RWE for the sale of RWE Offshore Wind Poland sp. z o.o., which holds the FEW Baltic II project with a capacity of approximately 350 MW, located next to Baltica 9. This will create an offshore wind farm with a total capacity of approximately 1.3 GW, under the working title Baltica 9+, which will facilitate the PGE Group in achieving its strategic goal for the offshore wind energy segment.
"The outcome of the first-ever offshore auction in Poland is a breakthrough moment for the development of offshore wind energy in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea. The auction was successful, guaranteeing the continuity of project implementation and ensuring the stability of local content development," said Dariusz Lubera, CEO of PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna. "The combination of Baltica 9 and FEW Baltic II, and thus the implementation of a wind project with a total capacity of 1.3 GW, will allow us to achieve high cost efficiency and, consequently, the lowest possible energy prices for consumers," added Dariusz Lubera.
"We have had an extremely intense year – a period of thorough review and optimization of the technical and economic assumptions of PGE Baltica's projects and defining the optimal strategy for participating in the auction. It was crucial for us to propose the lowest possible cost of electricity for society and the economy while maintaining the solid economic foundations necessary for the safe implementation of the project in the coming years. This was also a time of simultaneous workstreams – the acquisition of RWE's assets on the one hand, and the organic, intensive development of Baltica 9 on the other, including a geophysical and geotechnical campaign. At the same time, we were also preparing the Baltica 1 project for the auction," said Bartosz Fedurek, CEO of PGE Baltica. "As part of these preparations, PGE acquired RWE's Polish offshore assets: the environmental decision for basin 44.E.1, the results of wind and metocean campaigns, which fast‑tracked the development by several years, as well as signed a conditional agreement with RWE for the sale of RWE Offshore Wind Poland sp. z o.o. which holds the FEW Baltic II project with a capacity of approximately 350 MW CfD from Phase I and a high level of development maturity, located near the Baltica 9 site, jointly forming the Baltica 9+ project,” added Bartosz Fedurek.
The 975 MW Baltica 9 project is located in the western part of the Słupsk Bank, in one of the five locations awarded to PGE in 2023 (basin 44.E.1). It will be built on an area of approximately 121 sq. km, approximately 48 km from the coast, within reach of PGE's service O&M base in Ustka, with easier construction and operation logistics than the Central Bank, and confirmed ground conditions. The project has obtained preliminary connection conditions, and 2D UHRS geophysical surveys have also been conducted. Currently, a preliminary geotechnical campaign is being finalized.