PGE Group has selected Ustka as the location for an operations and maintenance (O&M) centre for its future offshore wind projects.
The Polish energy company will build an O&M base to service its offshore wind farms and an associated training centre for offshore wind in Ustka harbour on the Baltic Sea coast.
The O&M base will be built by PGE Baltica, part of the PGE Group.
According to the schedule, the first construction works in the Ustka harbour will begin in 2024.
The O&M centre will start operating in 2026.
Ustka is about 150 km west of Gdańsk.
“The decision to establish our future operational and maintenance base in Ustka is an important step in the development of PGE Group projects related to offshore wind energy.
“Our investment will change not only the harbour itself.
“We are convinced that it will also be an impulse to the development of the entire region and will allow for the creation of new jobs,” said Wojciech Dąbrowski, President of the Management Board of PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna.
Dariusz Lociński, President of the Management Board of PGE Baltica, added: “Developing an operational and maintenance base in Ustka is the most optimal solution for us.
“Thanks to good navigational and technical conditions of the port, appropriate depth of both the approach and the port canal, service vessels will be able to depart to the area of offshore wind farms without any problems.
“The onshore base, which will be provided by our location in Ustka, a well-connected town with accommodation facilities, local authorities open to participation in the offshore revolution, are also important.”
The O&M base will monitor the operation of PGE’s offshore wind farms and will host technical facilities and storage space for service crews.
It will include a warehouse for spare parts and tools necessary for servicing offshore wind farms, arranged wharf for docking vessels, as well as office space.
The base will also coordinate emergency and routine service work.
The Offshore Wind Energy Competence Center will provide training necessary for work in the maintenance of infrastructure and development of offshore wind farms.
It will also test and implement new innovative related technologies related to offshore wind energy.