Poland flips switch on offshore wind, Romania still drafting laws

Poland, whose energy system still relies heavily on coal-fired power plants, marked a historic moment in recent days: the first delivery of electricity from an offshore wind turbine. In Romania, the installation of offshore wind turbines has been under discussion for more than 10 years, and a law was even passed, but nothing has moved forward, while coal units – which are still alive in Poland – are being shut down one after another here. Below is a comparison of energy figures – ours and Poland's – from which we emerge in a very poor light.

Electricity generated by the Baltic Power offshore wind farm reached Poland's national grid for the first time, the Polish energy company ORLEN announced last week.

This landmark moment marks Poland's entry into the club of countries with offshore wind power generation capacity and represents one of the final stages in the construction of Poland's first wind farm in the Baltic Sea.

54 of the project's 76 turbines – 15 MW Vestas generators each, standing over 250 meters tall – have already been installed, and completion of the farm is scheduled for this autumn.

Reaching the "First Power" stage – what ORLEN announced last week – means that the first turbine has begun generating electricity, and the wind farm is gradually entering the full commissioning phase.

In the coming weeks, other turbines will undergo start-up and testing procedures, with the energy they produce already flowing into the national grid. The farm's output will increase gradually until it reaches its target capacity of 1.2 GW, making it the first operation of its kind carried out in Poland.

"Work at sea began in early 2025, and the first electricity is already flowing into the grid. Baltic Power is designed to operate for decades. Beyond generating electricity and strengthening security, the project will help develop a new sector of the Polish economy," said Ireneusz Fąfara, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of ORLEN, the company developing the project in a joint venture with the Canadian firm Northland Power.

He mentioned that ORLEN's broader investment program is estimated to reach up to 380 billion PLN (about 87 billion euros).

All 350 km of inter-array and export cables have been laid on the seabed, both offshore substations are in place, and the onshore station in the town of Choczewo is ready.

More than 100 vessels and over 5,300 crew members and contractors have been involved in the project so far. The maintenance base in Łeba, operational since last year, will handle the farm's operation and maintenance for approximately 30 years and hosts the Offshore Coordination Center, which manages maritime traffic in the project area.

Once fully operational, Baltic Power's 76 turbines, 15 MW each, will generate approximately 4 TWh of electricity annually – about 3% of Poland's current demand, equivalent to the needs of more than 1.5 million households – and will cut CO2 emissions by up to 2.8 million tons per year.

The farm spans an area of 130 square kilometers, about 23 km offshore, near Choczewo and Łeba. The remaining stages include performance tests, usage permits, independent certification, and a production license from the Energy Regulatory Office.

How Poland's energy mix is changing

Traditionally, Poland has relied on coal-fired power plants – a resource it has domestically – for electricity production, and has agreed on a longer timeline for shutting down these capacities. Last year, for example, coal accounted for 50.4% (or 88 TWh, almost twice as much as all the energy produced in Romania) of Poland's energy output, whereas 25 years ago that share stood at 94%, according to Ember data.

Although it doesn't have the best solar resources, Poland is among the region's leaders in terms of the speed of photovoltaic installations (24,000 MW already installed), on top of more than 10,000 MW installed in wind power. Renewable energy production rose in 2025 to nearly 55 TWh, equivalent to 31.41% of the electricity produced in Poland – far more than Romania's entire output.

Romania is very good at shutting down units and writing strategies and laws

Of course, Romania's remaining coal has a much lower calorific value than Poland's, and the wind in the Black Sea isn't as good as that in the Baltic Sea, but the comparison with Romania still needs to be made.

The first discussions about installing wind turbines in the Romanian Black Sea emerged almost two decades ago, during the first renewables boom in Romania.

"There is a huge opportunity for Romania in the offshore wind sector. There is a potential of 22 GW (20,000 MW) in fixed-foundation turbines on the seabed, and 50,000 MW in floating wind farms. These could make Romania a net energy exporter in the short term, even starting in 2025."

The statement was made in the summer of 2020 by Niculae Havrileț, former head of ANRE, at the time State Secretary, based on a World Bank study on Romania's technical offshore wind potential.

That same year, Hidroelectrica, the country's largest energy producer, announced in its investment strategy "offshore wind electricity generation capacities with a total installed capacity of approximately 300 MW", with a commissioning year of 2026 and an investment value of 2.88 billion lei, funded from "own sources + European funds/support schemes/Green Deal."

Obviously, nothing came of it, and Hidroelectrica still has, to this day, the same single operational wind farm – the onshore one at Crucea, where it's now installing a battery.

In 2023, the Ministry of Energy put out for public debate the draft law on developing wind capacities in the Black Sea. The law's goal was to reach 3,000 MW installed in the Black Sea, benefiting from the contracts-for-difference support scheme. The draft later became law, CfD auctions were held, but none for offshore capacities.

In 2024, the then-Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, also announced the huge offshore wind potential figures, based on a new World Bank study: projects worth up to 19 billion euros by 2035, 7,000 MW of new capacity, 77,000 new jobs.

Today we're in the same situation: tons of paperwork, but zero MW installed at sea and zero projects with even a minimal degree of progress.

Meanwhile, only 10 coal units remain in operation, with a capacity of just 1,600 MW. 335 MW disappeared from the system in just the first three months of this year alone, and another 300 MW are expected to disappear next month. In just four years, the installed capacity of coal-fired power plants has practically been cut in half, driven by several factors, the most important being Romania's decarbonization commitments. Dispatchable solar power is growing rapidly, but we still haven't reached even 4,000 MW, and onshore wind remains at 3,200 MW, despite the installation frenzy.

These are figures that should make us feel ashamed when we look at Poland's 24,000 MW of solar – far more than Romania's entire installed capacity – or its 10,000 MW installed in onshore wind, to which offshore capacity is now starting to be added.

As for the new industry, it's also worth noting that Vestas, the Danish giant that supplied the turbines for the Poles' first wind farm, has opened factories in Poland. Two, not one: a blade factory and a nacelle assembly plant.

We also tested the waters last year and asked Vestas executives in Romania – the Danes have turbine orders for projects in Romania – whether they plan to open any factory in Romania: "Poland is a market five times bigger, everything depends on orders, we hope we'll get there too," was the answer we received.