Orlen Neptun and the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority have signed a letter of intent to explore the expansion of the Świnoujście Offshore Terminal, Poland’s first installation terminal dedicated to offshore wind projects.
The move comes one year after the facility entered operation and amid growing demand for offshore wind logistics infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region, according to the company.
The terminal has already secured contracts with Ocean Winds and Smulders.
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According to Orlen Neptun, the terminal plays a key role in Orlen Group’s offshore wind plans, including the Baltic East and Baltic West projects, while also providing installation and marshalling services for third-party developers.
The letter of intent marks the first step towards a potential expansion of the facility, with further progress dependent on business analyses and financing arrangements.
“The expansion of the Świnoujście Offshore Terminal is a response to the anticipated demand for this type of infrastructure, given the plans to build further wind farms in the Baltic Sea”, said Janusz Bil , CEO of ORLEN Neptun.
Bil added that the terminal has achieved strong utilisation levels during its first year of operation and that additional capacity could be needed as multiple offshore wind projects enter their installation phases in the coming years.
Located on Poland’s Baltic coast, the facility combines installation terminal and marshalling port functions. It is designed to handle the latest generation of jack-up and heavy-lift vessels and to support offshore wind projects using turbines rated at 15 MW and above.
The infrastructure can also accommodate offshore substation components weighing up to nearly 3,000 tonnes and features quays with a load-bearing capacity of up to 50 tonnes per square metre.
According to Orlen Neptun, the terminal’s location and transport connections allow it to support offshore wind projects not only in Poland but also in Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
The port infrastructure was developed as part of an EU-funded project carried out by the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority. The authority said planning for a second development phase is already underway, citing the expected growth of offshore wind deployment in the Baltic Sea over the next decade and a half.