• Construction of Opalenica wind farm to commence this week
• 7th RWE wind farm in Poland
• Political framework paving the way for investments

Wind farm Suwalki

RWE Innogy is to commence construction work on their 7th wind farm, Opalenica, in Poland this week. The plant manufacturer Nordex will build seven wind power turbines with a capacity of 2.4 megawatts (MW) each in the region of Poznan. Altogether, the wind farm will have an installed capacity of around 17 MW and will supply an equivalent of around 21,000 Polish households with green electricity every year. Full commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2015.

"Poland is an important core market for us. Following times of regulatory uncertainty, the final draft of the new Polish Act on the Promotion of Renewable Energies has now been completed. This is an important step on the way for sustainable investments and hence for the construction of Opalenica – and we are open for further projects", explained Hans Bünting, CEO of RWE Innogy.

The first Polish Renewable Energies Act aims to change the current subsidy scheme ("green certificates") into a tendering scheme. This auctioning system is to apply for all plants that will be commissioned after the Act has come into force. Operators of existing plants which will feed electricity into the grid for the first time before the end of 2015 will be able to choose between the old subsidy scheme and the new system.

"For the time being, we will opt for the tried and proven certificate system for projects where we can choose. The auctioning system will still have to prove itself on the Polish market although it has already been successful in other European markets and is thus a promising alternative", explained Hans Bünting.

The wind turbines in Opalenica will have a total height of 150 metres and a rotor diameter of 117 metres. First preparatory construction work for road construction, for instance, is already under way. The crane hard-standings will be erected before long. Foundations are scheduled to be constructed in the second quarter of 2015 in parallel to the start of cable laying. Installation of the wind turbines is to commence in the summer already and commissioning is to be carried out successively. The wind farm will be connected to the public grid at medium-voltage level.

At the present time, RWE operates six onshore wind farms in Poland with a total installed capacity of 197 MW. The wind farms are located in three regions: Nowy Staw is situated near the city of Gdansk, Krzecin and Tychowo are located in Western Pomerania, Poland, and the wind farms Suwalki, Piecki and Taciewo are situated next to each other in Podlachia in the northeast of Poland.