Market Research

Baltic Sea – where the wind blows good

Content

When it comes to harvesting energy from the wind, Baltic Sea turns out to be a good place to invest in off-shore wind farms. This is the main conclusion that comes from analysing data gathered during a 10 years period (January 2000 – December 2009) by NASA satellites. The result of conducted research on a wind speed was a 10 years average wind speed for all planned and already commissioned wind farms around the globe, calculated for tower height of 100 meters to readily compare and rank wind farm locations. According to this research, the weather conditions (when it comes to wind speed) on the Baltic Sea are good for investing in off-shore wind farms.

In general, the 10 years average wind speed at 100 meters height above sea level is in range from 8 to 10 meters per second everywhere on the Baltic Sea. For the concept wind farm areas located on the Polish sea territory, the best noted average wind speed is over 9 meters per second. On the other hand, best ever conditions (when it comes to wind speed) are met in the Taiwanese Strait, with average wind speed at the level of 12 meters per second. The possibilities to utilize good weather conditions on the Baltic Sea for off-shore wind farms have been also noted by the Polish Government.

On June 29th, 2018, an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act has been signed, making it easier for off-shore projects to participate in RES auctions, with a possibility to bid for up to PLN 450/USD 142/EUR 121 per MWh. There is also a clear statement regarding growth expectations of Polish off-shore wind industry. It is estimated that in years 2025-2030, there could be commissioned off-shore wind farms with a total power capacity of 10 GW. There are continuously performed actions on building a grid infrastructure for connecting wind farms on the sea.