Bałtyk 1

Equinor and Polenergia completed a more than year‑long programme of marine and meteorological measurements at the Bałtyk 1 site, gathering wind and wave intensity data to determine expected energy production and support project design.

In the second quarter of 2024, MFW Bałtyk I S.A. began securing private real estate along the mainline of the export cable route for the Bałtyk I connection by signing transmission easement agreements; by 30 June 2024 it had secured 16 plots, representing 21% of the private properties on the route, with remaining plots to be obtained either through further agreements or, where necessary, administrative location decisions under Poland’s strategic transmission investment act.

On 20 May 2024, RDOŚ in Gdańsk issued a decision in the environmental proceedings for the Bałtyk I connection infrastructure, requiring that a full environmental impact assessment be carried out and specifying the scope of the environmental impact report for the export cable corridor and associated onshore works.

Equinor and Polenergia submitted an application to the Polish Power Grid (PSE) to change Bałtyk 1’s grid connection conditions so that the project can export power using high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology to the Krzemienica substation. The proposed shift to HVDC reflects the project’s large capacity and long export distance and would make Bałtyk 1 Poland’s first offshore wind farm to use a DC export solution, leveraging experience from Equinor’s Dogger Bank project in the UK.

Equinor and Polenergia submitted an application for environmental approval for the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm’s grid connection infrastructure, including underground cable routes bringing power ashore to the Krzemienica substation. This EIA submission advances the project toward participation in Poland’s 2025 offshore wind auction and complements existing permits and agreements already secured for Bałtyk 1.

By 9 April 2024, the Bałtyk 1 export system had secured a grid connection agreement with Polish transmission system operator PSE, providing connection conditions for 1,560 MW in HVAC technology from the Bałtyk I offshore wind farm to the Krzemienica substation near Redzikowo via offshore and onshore cable infrastructure. This agreement underpins the planned export route of power from the project into the Polish transmission grid and will later be subject to amendment if the requested switch to HVDC is approved.

Starting in February 2024, RINA Consulting began supporting Equinor and Polenergia on Bałtyk 1 as geotechnical and geophysical integration expert, working on execution and interpretation of the offshore geotechnical site investigation campaign and soil characterisation across the wind farm area and export cable corridors.

In January 2024, the Maritime Authority in Gdynia issued a decision partly transferring rights under the PUUK permit to MFW Bałtyk II and MFW Bałtyk I for the landfall part of the route, giving Bałtyk I its own permit coverage to lay and maintain offshore export cables in the shared corridor bringing power ashore.

On 29 January 2024, MFW Bałtyk I submitted to RDOŚ in Gdańsk an application for a decision on environmental conditions covering the connection infrastructure, including the offshore export cables and the up to 20‑kilometre underground onshore corridor linking the wind farm to the PSE Krzemienica substation.

Seabed survey campaigns at the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm site were completed in 2023, providing a preliminary understanding of the area’s geological conditions to inform the subsequent engineering design of the project.

In October 2023, an application for partial transfer of rights under the amended PUUK permit to lay and maintain subsea cables was submitted to the Maritime Authority in Gdynia, seeking to assign part of the cable‑laying rights to MFW Bałtyk II and MFW Bałtyk I for the landfall section of their shared export cable corridor.

In September 2023, an amendment decision was obtained to the 2014 permit to lay and maintain cables in internal sea waters and the territorial sea (PUUK) for the MFW Bałtyk III project, modifying the permit so that the offshore cable corridor for the connection infrastructure is continuous for all three Bałtyk projects, including the Bałtyk 1 export cable route.

Fairplay Towage reports that its multipurpose tug Fairplay‑37, built in Poland in 2022, was used in a survey campaign for the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm, indicating that offshore survey activities for the project were underway using this vessel in 2022.

A floating LiDAR device supplied by RPS was deployed at the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm site to provide floating wind and environmental measurements, as reported in an April 2022 article referenced by Global Energy Monitor.

MFW Bałtyk I, jointly developed by Polenergia and Equinor, signed a grid connection agreement with the Polish transmission system operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE), confirming that the offshore wind farm can be built to its full planned capacity of 1,560 MW and connected into the national electricity network. This agreement secures Bałtyk 1’s grid access alongside the developers’ other Baltic Sea projects and underpins further permitting and auction preparation activities.

MFW Bałtyk I S.A. completed preliminary geophysical surveys covering both the offshore wind farm area and the associated sub-sea cable corridors for the Bałtyk 1 export connection, providing seabed data to support further development of the project’s transmission infrastructure.

Preliminary geotechnical investigations in the MFW Bałtyk I offshore wind farm area and along the sub-sea cable corridors for the Bałtyk 1 export route have been completed by MFW Bałtyk I S.A., delivering soil and ground data needed for the design and routing of the transmission system.