Poland’s offshore wind energy ambitions aim for 6 GW by 2030 and 18 GW by 2040, in line with the EU’s strategy to achieve 317 GW of offshore wind capacity by mid-century. While progress has been made, with several projects in the pipeline, the country has yet to commission its first offshore wind farm. Several challenges still need to be addressed to reach these ambitious targets. The following sections highlight key areas for action, drawing on insights from ongoing efforts and industry feedback.
Instrat is participating in the project BLUECEE – Strengthening Policy and Governance Capacity for Blue Energy in Central and Eastern Europe. It aims to exchange good practices between stakeholders and strengthen readiness to deploy new generation capacity in the region’s seas. The project is a collaboration with consortia from Bulgaria (Center for the Study of Democracy), Romania (Energy Policy Group) and Croatia (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb).
We held workshops and webinars addressing CEE countries’ most important challenges of offshore wind farm construction. The Polish edition of the workshop dealt with the issue of developing supporting infrastructure – transmission grids, power output facilities, logistics and production base. The meeting provided an opportunity for a fruitful discussion among cross-sectoral industry experts from Poland and Europe, during which selected issues were raised as potential barriers to the implementation of offshore wind energy, with particular emphasis on our part of the Baltic Sea. Optimistic voices, interesting ideas and opportunities facing the Polish offshore wind sector were also present. Conclusions from the meetings, which were also held in the project partners’ countries, are included in our joint publication At the Frontier – Guidelines for Unlocking the Offshore Wind Energy Potential in Central and Eastern Europe.
The following publication has two main objectives. Firstly, it develops and updates the information contained in our Winds of Change report published in November 2023, in which we, together with the consortium partners, outlined the conditions for offshore wind development in the emerging markets of Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Secondly, it outlines the challenges that need to be addressed for Poland’s offshore wind programme to succeed. We focus on four main areas that were addressed and discussed during the BLUECEE project: regulatory framework, maritime spatial planning, environmental coexistence and development of supporting infrastructure.