Bałtyk 1 with an application for prequalification for the first offshore auction. The wind farm of Equinor and Polenergia is the most advanced offshore phase II project in Poland

Equinor and Polenergia have submitted an application to the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) for prequalification of the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm project to participate in the first offshore auction in Poland planned for the end of 2025. This is the first such application submitted to the Energy Regulatory Office. With a capacity of up to 1560 MW, the farm is the largest offshore wind energy project in Poland and at the same time the most advanced project of the second offshore phase. This makes it an extremely important element of the country's energy transition.

The prequalification application was submitted on the day of the announcement by the President of ERO of the auction dated for 17 December 2025. The auction will be competitive and will allow the sellection of the projects offering the most favorable energy sales prices in the support system settled for 25 years through a contract for difference. This will ensure stability and security for end users, regardless of price fluctuations on the energy market. The maximum price has been previously set by the Minister of Climate and Environment, and bidders will bid down. The condition for participation in the auction is to successfully pass the pre-qualification process conducted by the Energy Regulatory Office.

Effective conduct of offshore auctions this year will be crucial for maintaining the pace of energy transformation in Poland, as well as for using the full potential of already prepared, ready-to-implement projects such as Bałtyk 1.

Years of preparation and millions of zlotys of investments

Bałtyk 1 is currently the most advanced offshore wind farm project in Poland, implemented in the so-called phase II of offshore development. Thanks to full formal readiness and permits obtained for several years, the project meets all the criteria required to participate in the auction. Bałyk 1 has a legally valid environmental decision, a permit for the construction and use of artificial islands, structures and equipment in Polish maritime areas (the so-called PSZW) and a transmission grid connection agreement concluded with Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne. In recent years, environmental studies have been carried out as part of the project's development, as well as wind, wave and seabed studies. The planned capacity of the farm is up to 1560 MW, which makes Bałtyk 1 the largest offshore project in Poland. Located on the Central Bank, about 81 kilometers from the coast, the farm will consist of up to 104 wind turbines and will be able to power up to 2 million Polish households with green energy.

The project is being developed jointly by Equinor and Polenergia as part of a joint venture (JV). So far, the JV has invested several hundred million zlotys in the development of the project.

All key stages of the project's development over the past years have been achievable thanks to a stable and predictable economic and regulatory environment that has favoured domestic, private, public and foreign investors. 

For five years, Equinor and Polenergia have been intensively working to increase the share of Polish companies in the offshore wind energy supply chain. The ambition for the Bałtyk 1 project is to achieve local content, i.e. the participation of Polish entrepreneurs in the supply chain for the purposes of the project, at the level of up to 45 percent.

Bałtyk 1 is the third project of Equinor and Polenergia in the Polish Baltic Sea – next to the currently implemented Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3, for which final investment decisions have been made in recent weeks and financing has been secured as part of the largest project finance transaction in the history of the Polish energy sector (over EUR 6 billion from about 30 Polish and foreign financial institutions).

The total capacity of the three projects developed by the partners reaches 3 GW.