IN Brief:
- ORLEN Neptun has contracted Partrac to provide three floating V-LiDAR systems across Baltic West and Baltic East.
- The campaign will establish verified wind resource data for turbine layout, energy yield modelling, and project financing.
- Baltic West comprises four proposed areas totalling approximately 4GW, with participation planned in Poland's 2027 offshore wind auction.
ORLEN Neptun has commissioned a certified offshore wind measurement campaign for Baltic West in the Polish Baltic Sea, appointing Venterra Group company Partrac to supply floating V-LiDAR systems. Two systems are allocated to Baltic West, while the contract has been extended to provide a third for the separate Baltic East project. The announcement on 9 November marks the start of the measurement programme, rather than confirmation that all three devices have been deployed at sea.
The measurements will inform turbine placement, forecasts of electricity production, and project financing assumptions. Baltic West comprises four proposed areas on the Oder Bank, with an indicative combined generating capacity of approximately 4GW. The developer is preparing those sites for Poland’s 2027 offshore wind auction, while Baltic East is a separate development described in the latest contractor announcement as approximately 900MW.
Partrac’s V-LiDAR equipment is designed to provide wind resource information from floating platforms, avoiding the need to erect a fixed meteorological mast simply to obtain measurements at different heights. LiDAR uses laser-based remote sensing to estimate wind speed and direction in the air above the device. A floating installation must also account for the platform’s movement so that changes in buoy position and orientation are not mistaken for changes in the wind itself.
The contract specifies certified measurements, meaning the campaign is intended to produce data suitable for technical and commercial assessments. The announcement does not disclose the measurement period, detailed buoy mooring arrangements, or the precise positions selected for deployment. Nor does it confirm whether either of the Baltic West systems has completed offshore installation. Partrac will deliver the programme through its offshore survey team.
Wind measurements are a central input to the assessment of an offshore project’s expected annual generation. Wind speed can vary with height above sea level, while the prevailing direction and distribution of wind speeds influence where turbines can be placed. Those measurements are combined with longer-term climate records and engineering models to estimate the resource available across a prospective array.
Turbines extract energy from moving air, leaving a region of altered wind speed and turbulence behind the rotor. The resulting wake can reduce production from downstream machines, depending on wind direction and turbine spacing. Site measurements therefore help developers examine alternative layouts and estimate energy losses rather than relying solely on broad regional wind maps.
The results also feed into calculations used by investors and lenders. Predicted annual electricity production, together with uncertainty around that prediction, helps establish the range of possible revenues available to service project debt. Marcin Sowiński, Baltic West project director, said the measurements would replace some assumptions in the project’s financial model with verified local information before auction participation and later financing decisions.
Poland’s offshore wind support arrangements are another part of that calculation. Baltic West is being prepared for the 2027 auction, where successful projects could receive support through a bilateral contract for difference lasting up to 25 years. That prospect does not mean any of its four areas has won support, secured construction financing, or reached a final investment decision.
ORLEN Neptun identifies the four Baltic West areas as 14.E.1, 14.E.2, 14.E.3, and 14.E.4. Their respective indicative capacities are approximately 800MW, 900MW, 1,200MW, and 1,200MW. Together, the areas cover around 445 square kilometres on the Oder Bank, approximately 26.5km from the Baltic coast, where the developer reports water depths of about 28–40 metres.
Those capacities remain development estimates. The eventual number, model, and positioning of turbines will depend on resource data, seabed investigations, environmental requirements, grid connection arrangements, and investment decisions. Wind measurements can refine the electricity yield calculation, but do not by themselves resolve foundation design or the route and capacity of the export cables.
The developer says all four Baltic West areas have permits for artificial islands, structures, and equipment, together with preliminary grid connection conditions. Environmental surveys are continuing, and additional investigations are planned to establish site-specific physical conditions. A preliminary connection condition should not be confused with an energised export system or a completed grid connection agreement.
Seabed work will inform the choice of foundation and cable installation methods. Water depth, sediment conditions, and other site constraints affect how offshore structures can be installed and how electrical export and inter-array cables can be protected. Wind resource measurements proceed alongside that work, contributing to the final design without replacing geotechnical or environmental studies.
Baltic East will receive the third V-LiDAR system under the expanded contract. Direct local measurements are relevant because sites within the same sea basin need not have identical wind conditions. The data will support Baltic East’s own engineering and financial assumptions, rather than being treated as a substitute for the measurements planned at Baltic West.
ORLEN Neptun has separately reserved land at the Port of Kołobrzeg for a potential Baltic West operations and maintenance base. That arrangement relates to the project’s future servicing infrastructure and does not establish that offshore construction has started. The developer currently places the start of commercial generation for the Baltic West areas in 2034 or later.
Partrac’s appointment therefore advances the evidence-gathering stage of two proposed projects without fixing their eventual equipment configuration or delivery dates. The three floating systems are intended to provide verified wind resource records for future design and investment decisions, with Baltic West’s next major commercial milestone being its intended participation in Poland’s 2027 auction.
