Poland plans to allocate new areas for offshore turbine farms in the Baltic Sea. This was announced by its deputy minister of infrastructure on Wednesday.

Arkadiusz Marzewka, a representative of the industry, said that "Maritime offices are preparing analyses at any time which will allow them to decide on new areas where offshore wind farms can be built."

Poland has boosted its ambitions for offshore wind farms on the Baltic Sea even though Sweden rejected earlier this month applications to build them, saying that they posed a defense risk.

Marchewka stated that offshore wind is Poland's national reason for state.

PGE, Orlen and Equinor are among the investors who are building 6 gigawatts of offshore capacity on the Polish coast. The project is expected to be completed by 2030. Auctions for the second round will take place in 2025.

According to the Polish Wind Energy Association, there is a potential of 33 GW for offshore wind energy in Poland.

Poland raised its price for wind energy from new Baltic Sea project next year last month after investors complained that the initial price was not high enough to meet the government's targets. The government plans to differentiate prices based on distance from the shore. (Reporting and editing by Ros Russell)

(source: Reuters)