Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer Orlen is set to launch surveys to assess the environmental impacts and wind conditions within its offshore wind license in the Baltic Sea. For this purpose, it has signed an agreement with the Maritime Institute of Gdańsk (Poland) and the Polish offshore developmental works and seabed survey company MEWO. Orlen aims at obtaining an environmental permit for the project shortly and will determine the potential of the area for the installation of a wind park. The project’s total capacity may reach as much as 1,200 MW.
The development of offshore wind projects is one of Orlen's key strategic development directions for the coming decade. At the moment, Orlen is already a domestic electricity producer and owns two CCGT units in Płock and Włocławek a total combined capacity of 1.1 GW, which could support the wind parks in case of power shortages.