PGE Targets Offshore Wind Pole Position with Polenergia Takeover Bid

Polish state-owned utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has announced a tender offer to acquire a 100% stake in Poland’s largest privately-owned energy company – Polenergia.

PGE said that the acquisition is in line with the group’s business strategy as it provides an opportunity for the development and growth of the majority of its business segments, including wind power.

The takeover bid announcement coincided with the news that Polenergia signed an official agreement with Equinor (formerly Statoil) to jointly own and develop two 600MW offshore wind projects in the Polish Baltic Sea – Polenergia Bałtyk II and Polenergia Bałtyk III.

The two projects have the legally binding environmental decisions and the grid connection agreements in place. The efforts to obtain the environmental decision regarding the offshore transmission infrastructure are underway.

The wind measurement campaigns, as well as the seabed and soil surveys, are currently ongoing at the sites located 27 kilometres and 40 kilometres off the port of Łeba.

Polenergia Bałtyk III is expected to start delivering power to the Polish grid in 2025 and Polenergia Bałtyk II in 2027.

Shift in Focus for PGE

PGE’s move to take over Polenergia fits the recently reported narrative of the group ditching its plans to develop the country’s first nuclear power plant and instead focus on offshore wind projects.

The state-owned company has offshore wind projects of its own in the pipeline. PGE Energia Odnawialna, the group’s renewable energy unit, started a two-year wind measurement campaign earlier this year some 32km offshore Łeba at the site of the proposed 1GW Baltica offshore wind project. The wind farm is expected to be developed after 2020.