Wind farms boom looms on Poland's breezy Baltic Sea coast

Oct 2, 2006, 15:37 GMT

Warsaw - Poland's breezy Baltic Sea coast expects a boom in wind farms with forecasts predicting that by the end of the decade the country will enjoy a wind power capacity of 2,000 megawatts worth a total 2.4 billion euros (3.04 billion dollars).

This capacity would cover approximately 2 per cent of Poland's electrical power needs, according to a Monday report in Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily.

Wind electricity companies from Asia, Europe and the US are keen to be among the first to invest in the fledgling Polish wind-energy sector.

Interested investors include Germany's E.On, Spain's Iberdrola and Gamesa, Japan's Mitsui and J-Power as well as Danish and domestic Polish firms Windpol and Polish Energy Partners.

Earlier this year, the Japanese companies Mitsui and J-Power revealed a plan to build the farms near the Baltic Sea coast city of Koszalin in a joint venture with Poland's Windpol worth a total 70 million euros. With more than 4 billion euro in annual turnover, J- Power is a major energy player in Japan.

In June, the US-owned Invenergy electricity firm opened a wind power farm in Tymien, just west of the Baltic Sea coast city of Koszalin.

Denmark's Elsam firm has opened a 15-million wind farm on the Baltic Sea island of Wolin. Eolica, a Polish-Danish-Dutch joint venture, aims to build a further two wind farms on the Baltic coast near Koszalin. The Poland Energy Partners power company has similar plans.

New EU-recommended guidelines requiring Polish electricity distributors to buy up more power generated using renewable sources are fuelling the wind energy boom in Poland.

With just four wind farms producing some 100 megawatts of electrical power currently operating, Poland has an enormous growth potential in this sector.

By comparison, wind farms in EU neighbour Germany have a total power capacity of some 18,400 megawatts.