PGE Group is extending its cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences in the field of offshore wind energy
PGE Baltica from the PGE Group and the Institute of Hydroengineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBW PAN) signed a letter of intent, which paves the way for cooperation to develop the offshore wind energy sector. IBW PAN may support PGE, among others in the field of research on harbour infrastructure necessary to operate offshore wind farms. This is another research unit of the Polish Academy of Sciences from Gdańsk with which PGE will cooperate.
– The construction of the installation and the accompanying infrastructure is preceded by the necessity to perform a series of tests. We cannot imagine the implementation of the PGE Group's offshore program without cooperation with Polish scientific institutions, especially in Pomerania. The knowledge of scientists from the Institute of Hydroengineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences will be a valuable asset in the course of our further cooperation. I am convinced that Polish science will make a significant contribution to the implementation of offshore wind energy projects and that this share will increase – commented Dariusz Lociński, President of the Management Board of PGE Baltica.
– The Institute of Hydroengineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences has been providing advisory services for the largest hydrotechnical investments carried out in Poland since the 1950s. Among the most important and strategic investments implemented only in the last 20 years, in which the Institute has participated or participated, there are, for example, the gas terminal in Świnoujście, the Baltic Pipe pipeline, the Vistula Spit cut-off and a nuclear power plant. Therefore, we are pleased that IBW PAN will also be able to support PGE Baltica and participate in the next historical moment of Polish hydrotechnics, i.e. the construction of Polish offshore wind farms – commented Prof. Waldemar Świdziński, Ph.D., D. Sc., Director of IBW PAN.
The letter of intent includes, among others, substantive and operational consultations during design works developing offshore wind farm projects in the Baltic Sea, in particular regarding cooperation in research related to harbour infrastructure.
The Institute of Hydroengineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences is not the first research unit of the Polish Academy of Sciences, with which PGE cooperates in the field of offshore wind energy. In the fall of 2021, the Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences completed a research project for PGE Baltica aimed at studying the effect of blocking wind flow by large offshore wind farms, the so-called blockage effect. As a result of the work, an advanced model of air flow through offshore installations was created.
The PGE Group is currently implementing three offshore wind farm projects in the Baltic Sea. Baltica 2 and Baltica 3 offshore power plants – developed in cooperation with Ørsted – are to start operating in this decade. They constitute the Baltica Offshore Wind Farm with a total installed capacity of approx. 2.5 GW. The third project, the Baltica 1 offshore power plant is to be put into operation after 2030, and its installed capacity will be approx. 1 GW. By implementing further offshore wind farm projects, PGE intends to fulfill its strategic goal of achieving at least 6.5 GW of offshore generation capacity in the Baltic Sea by 2040.