Baltic Power, a joint venture between Polish energy company Orlen and Canada's Northland Power, has announced the arrival of its first installation vessel, the Svanen, at the port of Gdynia.
The heavy-lift vessel, part of Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord's fleet, is set to begin construction for Poland's first offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea in early 2025.
The Svanen will install monopiles, the primary components of the foundations for the project's 76 turbines, each rated at 15 MW, as well as two offshore substations.
Due to their considerable size—up to 100 meters in length and weighing up to 1,700 tonnes—the monopiles can only be transported by sea.
Originally commissioned in 1991, the Svanen was recently upgraded to handle the latest generation of turbine foundations, specifically for the 15 MW models used by Baltic Power. This marks the first project served by the vessel since its 2023 upgrade.
With construction advancing on schedule, the 1.14-GW Baltic Power wind farm is expected to be completed in 2026. The project recently took delivery of its first monopiles and finalized one of four planned connections to onshore substations.
