cross-posted from: https://szmer.info/post/7675906

Poland’s government has announced 230 million zloty (€54 million) in state support for the construction of what it says will be the world’s largest factory producing towers for offshore wind turbines.

The facility will be built by a Polish subsidiary of Spanish renewable energy company Windar Renovables and located on the northern Baltic Sea coast, where Poland is planning to develop its first offshore wind farms in the coming years.

“The Baltic Sea will be an example in the not-too-distant future of how clean, efficient and inexpensive green energy can be generated for Poland and for the whole of Europe,” said development minister Krzysztof Paszyk during yesterday’s signing of a financing agreement with Windar Polska.

The plant will be built on a 17-hectare site on the island of Ostrów Grabowski, in Szczecin harbour. The ministry says the location was chosen to allow direct sea transport of the massive steel towers, which can measure up to 10 metres in diameter, 50 metres in height, and weigh 450 tonnes.

“Such enormous dimensions make it impossible to transport these elements overland,” Paszyk told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The factory is expected to produce up to 500 tower sections annually, equivalent to around 100 complete towers, depending on the model, each designed for turbines with a capacity of 14 megawatts. Total investment is expected to reach 880 million zloty, with Windar contributing 653 million zloty and the rest coming from state aid.

Construction of the plant will be carried out by a Polish subsidiary of the Australian PORR group. According to PORR’s statement, the facility will comprise four production lines housed in a 47,000-square-metre building, as well as a raw materials warehouse.

Yesterday, a symbolic foundation stone was laid for the factory, which is due to be completed in 2026 and reach full production capacity in early 2027, reports local newspaper Głos Szczeciński. It is expected to create nearly 500 jobs.

The development marks the latest in a series of investments by foreign firms in Poland’s growing wind turbine manufacturing sector. In early 2022, two Spanish companies, including Windar, announced plans to build wind turbine component factories.

Later that year, a Danish firm revealed it would construct a factory near Szczecin to assemble parts for wind turbines. That facility is scheduled to begin operations this year and to create 700 direct jobs.

Paszyk noted the 230 million zloty in public funding being granted to the new Windar facility is part of a broader 5 billion zloty package earmarked by the ministry for green investments, aimed at reducing Poland’s reliance on conventional energy sources.

The minister cited Baltic Towers, a Polish firm building another offshore wind tower production facility in Gdańsk, which has received more than 376 million zloty in aid.

Other government-backed ventures include SK Nexilis’s copper foil production plant in Stalowa Wola, which received over 545 million zloty in support, and IONWAY Poland’s cathode material factory for electric vehicle batteries near Nysa, supported with nearly 1.5 billion zloty.

“Increasing the share of cheap renewable energy in our energy mix will make it possible to reduce electricity prices,” Paszyk said, quoted by PAP.

Poland remains one of the most coal-dependent countries in the European Union. Although it has accelerated the development of renewables, coal still accounted for 56.7% of electricity generation in 2024. However, in April this year, coal’s share fell below 50% in a single month for the first time.

While Poland does not yet have an operational offshore wind farm, three projects are currently in development, including one that began to be constructed in February and another announced earlier this month.