DNV Issues ‘World’s First’ Certification Guidance for Energy Islands and Offshore Wind Farms in Poland

April 19, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

DNV has published an update of its service specification for project certification, DNV-SE-0190, with the new edition now being the world’s first document which addresses the certification of energy islands and offshore wind farms in Poland, according to the certification specialist.

The new Appendix in the service specification is addressing country-specific requirements for certification defined in the recently published Polish Maritime Safety Act and combines them with the common international practice to certify offshore wind farms in Poland.

“There was a strong need from the industry to include both topics in our service specification which will support our customers to meet growth targets for offshore wind in a safe and reliable way”, said Kim Sandgaard-Mørk, Executive Vice President for Renewables Certification at DNV. “Certification to international standards is one of the most accepted risk management tools worldwide. In times of ambitious renewables targets and cost reduction, scaling and faster implementation needs, the independent evaluation is of high importance to prove the state-of-the-art level of safety, quality and reliability for offshore wind assets”.

Energy islands are currently at the idea stage and under development. To bring confidence to all stakeholders involved in this emerging concept, DNV has described the certification process providing guidance and transparency to the market, the company said.

In February 2021, Poland signed into law the Offshore Act which regulates the development of offshore wind farms in the Polish Baltic Sea. The legislation allows for 10.9 GW of offshore wind capacity to be either operational or under development by 2027.

The construction of the 1.2 GW Baltic Power offshore wind farm, developed by PKN Orlen and Northland Power, is due to start next year and the country has further projects in the pipeline, together with those recently awarded location permits.

Fabio Pollicino, Director Service Area Renewables Certification at DNV, said: ”Together with our Committee of Experts (CoE), which involves external industry members, we are ensuring that the DNV services are adjusted to the market needs considering latest experiences, technologies and lessons learned from offshore projects worldwide. Several stakeholders will benefit from our guideline for Energy islands and offshore wind farms in Poland, providing transparency to organisations involved and supporting a faster energy transition”.