Service port for Baltic Power offshore wind farm to be built in Łeba

Baltic Power has won a lease contract for land at the Łeba seaport to support its offshore wind farm. It will accommodate service facilities to support the wind farm project, scheduled for 2024–2026. During that time, about 70 wind turbines with a total capacity of up to 1.2 GW will be erected in the sea, serviced by a fleet of vessels operating from the port in Łeba.

In the tender won by Baltic Power, the company has secured an area of approximately 1.1 ha, where a base supporting the offshore wind farm will be constructed. A key component of the project is the wharf, a part of the complex which will need to be redeveloped to enable logistics operations. The service base for the Baltic Power wind farm is expected to operate three or four crew transfer vessels (CTV), each able to take on board up to 24 technicians with necessary equipment. The base will operate on a 24-hour basis, for 365 days in a year, but its operations will largely depend on the seasons and weather conditions in the sea. The construction of the service facilities is scheduled to begin in 2023 and end in 2024, at an estimated cost of about PLN 20m-30m.

“A service port is the heart of offshore wind farm operations. Of all the locations we have considered, Łeba best meets our key criteria, including distance from the farm and potential for infrastructure development. As a dynamically growing centre, Łeba may also play an important role in the future supply chain for the offshore wind industry,” said Jarosław Broda, President of the Baltic Power Management Board.

The Service Port will be the management centre for offshore wind farm operations and maintenance. It will include an office building, a spare parts warehouse and a workshop. Altogether, it may provide jobs to as many as 50 people, responsible for repairs, maintenance and operation of the farm.

The staff of technicians will mainly be tasked with ensuring proper operation of the farm, e.g. through regular inspections of the wind turbines. During the inspections, service technicians will check, based on rigorous procedures, the performance, wear and tear, and operational parameters of individual components of the turbines, and will make emergency repairs. All the works will be supervised by a production management IT system, which will monitor ongoing efficiency of the farm’s operation and will indicate the turbines or turbine parts requiring routine replacement.

The construction of the Baltic Power offshore wind farm is a joint project of the ORLEN Group and Northland Power. The project site, with an area of approximately 131 km², is located about 23 km north of the Baltic coastline, near Łeba and Choczewo.