SSW advised Baltic Power on financing and developing Poland’s first offshore wind project

SSW Pragmatic Solutions advised Baltic Power, a JV owned by the ORLEN Group and Northland Power, on the first offshore project finance transaction on the Polish market. Over EUR 4.4 billion in financing will be provided by a group of 25 financial institutions, encompassing both Polish and international commercial banks, export credit agencies (ECAs), and multilateral institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Euler Hermes, Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, and Export Development Canada. The project financing accounts for 80% of the expected total capital costs, with the project partners contributing the remaining capital.

Baltic Power is the most advanced offshore wind project in Poland. The project has successfully secured contracts for all key components, including turbines, offshore and onshore substations, cables, and foundations, and their respective manufacturing, transport and installation works. It also holds all of the necessary construction permits for the offshore and onshore parts of the project.

The farm will be located approximately 23 kilometres off the coastline, near to Łeba and Choczewo. It is designed to comprise 76 state-of-the-art wind turbines, each with a unit capacity of 15 MW. Upon completion in 2026, the Baltic Power wind farm will start producing electricity to power over 1.5 million households.

The overall project budget is estimated at approximately EUR 4.73 billion. Construction of the windfarm will commence in 2023, and the project is expected to become operational in 2026.  SSW has also assisted Baltic Power since 2021 with the project development phase and represented the client in negotiations of construction (EPCI) contracts.

The multi-practice SSW team which advised on the project development and the transaction was coordinated by Hubert Wysoczański and led by partners Ilona Fedurek (Finance), Dominik Strzałkowski (Energy), Katarzyna Solarz-Włodarska (Corporate) and Hubert Wysoczański (Construction and EPCI contracts negotiations).

Key SSW team members included:

• Project finance – Ilona Fedurek (Partner), Dominik Strzałkowski (Partner), Julia Wysocka (Senior Associate), Paweł Michałek (Senior Managing Associate) and Filip Grabowski (Associate)
• Energy, PPA – Dominik Strzałkowski (Partner), Paweł Michałek (Senior Managing Associate), Agnieszka Ratajczak (Associate) and Michał Ilasz (Associate)
• Construction and EPCI contracts – Hubert Wysoczański (Partner), Katarzyna Kuśnierek (Associate)
• Corporate – Katarzyna Solarz-Włodarska (Partner), Kamil Jurzak (Associate), Iwona Domańska (Associate)
• Tax, Hedging – Tomasz Wickel (Partner), Łukasz Karpiesiuk (Partner), Łukasz Grenda (Partner), Marek Wędrychowski (Counsel), Anna Sękowska (Counsel), Krystian Trzciński (Senior Associate), Rafał Łapiński (Senior Associate), Olga Panek (Senior Associate)
• Environment – Anita Palukiewicz (Partner), Tomasz Pietrzyk (Senior Associate)
• Real Estate – Robert Wodzyński (Partner), Marta Popis (Senior Managing Associate), Kamil Wróblewski (Associate)
• Employment – Marcin Cetnarowicz (Partner)

Other advisors with whom we cooperated on this landmark transaction include on the borrower’s side HoganLovells LLP, Green Giraffe Advisory and Pekao Investment Banking, and Linklaters who acted as the lenders’ counsel.

Hubert Wysoczański comments:

We are immensely proud and delighted to have advised on this landmark project, which is one of the biggest of its kind in Poland and which is crucial for the Polish energy market and its awaited green transition. Huge congratulations to everyone involved from the Baltic Power team, the sponsors and all other advisors. This was a spectacular achievement, preceded by lots of hard work and the dedication of many. Advising on the first and most advanced offshore wind project in Poland sometimes required us to sail through many uncharted waters, so the satisfaction is even greater that we managed to support the client, together with other advisors, in successful finalization of this milestone transaction.