Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday hailed the opening of the new T5 terminal as a major boost to national energy security.
The site will serve as the main installation base for the Baltica 2 offshore wind farm, which is expected to start generating power in the first half next year.
According to Tusk, the country was becoming an "energy powerhouse" on the Baltic, not just a port hub.
"The first electricity will flow in the first half of 2027, so these are not dreams deferred to the future," Tusk told a press conference.
"This is energy security, and more capacity very soon."
He said the terminal cost PLN 1.2 billion (around EUR 275 million) to build, more than 700 million (EUR 160 million) of which came from from the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund.
Building it in Gdańsk is expected to give Polish companies a much bigger role in offshore projects, including as subcontractors installing giant wind turbine towers.
Tusk added that the terminal, built on what was until recently open water, had made Poland "symbolically bigger" by about 21 hectares.
Finance and Economy Minister Andrzej Domański said more than 107 turbines would soon be shipped from the terminal to Baltica 2, which is expected to supply electricity to 2.5 million households.
He added that up to 18 gigawatts of capacity could be installed in the Baltic by 2040, and that the aim was for supply chains to be built around domestic manufacturing.
"We want Polish companies, Polish entrepreneurs and Polish workers to be the beneficiaries," he said.
Domański also urged business leaders at the ceremony to defend Poland’s membership of the European Union, arguing that political forces that want to "push the country out of the bloc" were growing louder.
"I am not afraid to use those words," he said.
(ał/gs)
Source: PAP