Ørsted and Polish energy firm Ze Pak plan JV for Baltic Sea offshore wind

Ørsted is teaming up with priavetly owned Polish energy producer Ze Pak to jointly bid in the country’s upcoming offshore wind auctions.

The partners signed a letter of intent to participate in the auction for seabed leases in the Polish Baltic Sea, and — if successful — in future contracts for difference (CfD) tenders.

They eventually plan to form a 50:50 joint venture for Polish offshore wind development.

Poland is expected to adopt the final regulation on the leasing round by the end of the year and to hold the auction shortly thereafter.

It is then due to hold CfD auctions in 2025 and 2027.

Poland currently has no operational offshore wind farms, but has awarded CfDs to just over 5.9GW of projects. It aims to have these projects online by 2030 and to reach 11GW of operational capacity by 2040.

Danish developer Ørsted has 12GW of renewable energy capacity installed worldwide, of which 7.6GW is offshore wind. Together with Polish state-owned power company PGE, it secured CfDs for about 2.5GW of offshore wind capacity in the country’s first auction.

Meanwhile, Ze Pak is aiming to shift from coal to renewable energy. Its president Piotr Woźny said it recently completed the largest solar plant in Poland and aims to be the first company in Poland to produce green hydrogen.