“We are executing one of the most significant transactions in the domestic renewable energy market in recent years. Our extensive acquisition experience and operational scale allow us to effectively carry out transactions of this type. Our consistent investments in this segment aim to offer clean and competitively priced energy to our customers. By 2030, we plan to have approximately 9 GW of installed renewable capacity, thus becoming the energy transition leader in the region. The agreement concluded today will increase our RES portfolio with exceptionally high-quality generation units. The three wind farms to be acquired are not only among the most modern in the country, but are also characterised by a great location, ensuring high winds, which guarantees a high degree of utilisation of the installed capacity,” said Daniel Obajtek, CEO and President of the ORLEN Management Board.
The transaction involves the purchase of three wind farms located in the Wielkopolska region, near the town of Dobrzyca (with a capacity of 49.9 MW) and the villages of Ujazd (with a capacity of 30 MW) and Dominowo (with a capacity of 62.4 MW). The last one uses Vestas V136 turbines, which have a maximum height of 166 m and blades measuring 76.2 m in length, making them the largest onshore units currently operating in Poland. The transaction is being executed by ORLEN Wind 3 of the ORLEN Group. Once the acquisition is completed, ORLEN will have an approximate total renewable capacity of 900 MW.
The farms were commissioned in 2021 – 2022 and are new effective assets with an expected long operational life. Optional photovoltaic projects are an additional, inherent element of the transaction. They can be implemented by the seller mostly on the basis of cable pooling, i.e. using the existing connection. The delivered photovoltaic farms, after their construction, will be another significant increase in the ORLEN Group's RES generation capacity by even approximately 159 MW. The implementation of these projects on the basis of cable pooling is, of course, dependent on the completion of work on the currently processed regulations enabling this solution.
The new assets are another investment of the ORLEN Group in renewable energy sources in the Wielkopolska region, where the Przykona wind farm, with a capacity of approximately 33 MW, and the Gryf photovoltaic farm, with a capacity of approximately 25 MW, are already operational. In mid-July 2023, Energa Wytwarzanie of the ORLEN Group signed a preliminary agreement with Greenvolt for the Opalenica and Sompolno projects, with a total capacity of 59 MW. Energa’s plans also encompass the construction of the PV Mitra (65 MW) and PV Zuki (2.4 MW) photovoltaic farms.
An important direction in the development of RES capacity in the ORLEN Group is also offshore wind energy. The concern plans to build the first wind farm (with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW) in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea. According to the adopted schedule, the construction of Baltic Power is initially planned for 2024, and its commissioning in 2026. At the end of May 2023, the ORLEN Group companies secured five more locations in the Baltic Sea for the construction of offshore wind farms, where assets with a total capacity of approximately 5.2 GW may be built. In total, the ORLEN Group already has 6 offshore wind farm locations with a potential of 6.4 GW.
By the end of 2030, the ORLEN Group aims to achieve renewable energy sources with a total capacity of over 9 GW, encompassing offshore and onshore wind farms, photovoltaics, as well as biogas and biomethane-powered generation units. Additionally, by this time, the Group plans to produce energy using small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). Altogether, the Group will allocate as much as PLN 120 billion for green investments by the end of the decade. These efforts, leveraging the synergies and potential of the combined multi-utility group, aim to provide Poles with affordable and clean energy in the future.
