Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind has announced plans to establish a second factory in Poland to produce blades for the company’s flagship offshore wind turbine the V236-15.0 MW machine. This has been a result of the increased demand for offshore wind demand across Europe.
Location
With the ability to create over 1000 direct jobs, the factory is expected to start operation in 2026. The factory will be located in Szczecin 566km northwest of the country’s capital, Warsaw close to the Ostrow Brdowski island, in a place where Vestas had previously announced plans in February 2023 to set up an assembly plant for nacelle.
Timeline
The assembly plant is expected to commence operations in 2025 with about 700 employees. This will bring the company’s number of employees in Poland to about 2,500 combined with its current footprint. The new factories are expected to support European and also global demand, playing a significant role in supporting Poland and the European offshore wind market and industry.
The president of Vestas Northern and Central Europe, Nils de Baar, echoed that Poland has a growing wind industry with the potential of being an offshore hub for the Baltic region and the rest of Europe with a highly skilled labour force. He added that Poland is transforming its energy system and is a promising wind energy market with good wind conditions both onshore and offshore.
Impact
Tommy Rahbek Nielsen, Vestas COO added that, the company’s plans for the two new offshore factories in Poland underlines that Europe can spur the wind industry investments and green jobs with the right long-term policy commitments for offshore wind projects and Vestas intends to lead the development of sustainable supply chain in Europe that can deliver the scale needed to meet the growing demand for offshore wind.
According to a company statement, Vestas is manufacturing footprint strategy focuses on prioritizing markets with long-term condition certainty and where it has secured sustainable orders. Other locations meeting these conditions will also be considered for new capacity.
The prototype
Three months later, after the Vesta V236-15.0 MW prototype wind turbine was installed at the Østerild National test centre for large wind turbines in western Jutland, Denmark in December 2022, it reached its nominal power rating of 15 MW.
At the end of last year (2023), the Danish company received a type certificate for its 15 MW offshore wind turbine. This followed the unit having set a world record for the most power output by a single wind turbine in 24 hours by producing 363 megawatt hours in that period. This was after undergoing an intensive test and verification programme.
With a swept area exceeding 43,000 m2, one single V236-15.0 MW unit is capable of producing enough energy to power more than 20,000 households.
Expansion plans
With more production expected to come through, the company is considering building an additional factory in the UK, most likely in Scotland to help boost the UK market. This was evident with the signing of an agreement last year (2023) with RWE AG to supply turbines for a series of wind farms planned off the coast of England.
About Vesta
Vesta is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable solutions. They design, manufacture, install and service onshore and offshore wind turbines across the globe, with more than 173 GW of wind turbines in 88 countries. Through its industry-leading smart data capabilities and the unparalleled number of more than 151 GW of wind turbines under service, they interpret, forecast and exploit wind resources and deliver best in class wind power solutions.
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