Northland Power is to acquire a 49% interest in PKN Orlen’s 1200MW Baltic Power offshore wind project.
The scheme is a mid-development stage project located approximately 23 kilometres offshore from Poland’s coast in the Baltic Sea.
The project, which secured its location permit, signed its grid connection agreement as well as filed its environmental permit in 2020, allows Northland to capitalize on the growth in renewable energy demand in a growing Central European market.
Inclusive of the purchase price, Northland expects to invest approximately PLN 290m (€64m) towards the Baltic Power development in 2021.
Some of this amount represents development expenditures that will be spent throughout 2021.
Northland’s president and chief executive Mike Crawley said: “Today’s announcement reflects Northland’s continued growth and leadership in renewable energy and strengthens our position as a global leader in offshore wind development.”
“We are excited to partner with PKN Orlen to expand our presence in Europe through the development of the Baltic Power offshore wind project, but more importantly, further contribute to the global decarbonisation transition by helping Poland fulfill its renewable energy ambitions.”
PKN Orlen is a major player on the Polish energy market, with generation capacity of 3.2GWe.
The Northland and PKN Orlen partnership will co-develop the Baltic Power opportunity that is expected to secure a 25-year Contract for Difference (CfD) offtake agreement.
This would provide Northland an investment consistent with the company’s objectives of creating high-quality projects underpinned by revenue contracts that deliver predictable cash flows.
Construction activities are scheduled to start in 2023 with commercial operations expected in 2026.