Golice Wind Park

Golice Wind Park is a 38MW wind-based power plant built in the province of Lubuskie in Poland. It represents an investment of approximately $64m.

Officially commissioned in December 2011, the wind park generates about 80GWh of clean energy per annum, sufficient to power 40,000 Polish homes. The plant is estimated to avoid the emission of 77,625t of carbon dioxide each year.

The wind farm is situated between the villages of Golice and Lisow, in the commune of Slubice in the province of Lubuskie in western Poland. The Polish-German border is just 10km from the plant site.

The plant is owned and operated by Golice Wind Farm, the Polish subsidiary of Acciona Energia, which itself is owned by the Acciona Group. The Acciona Group has its presence in more than 30 countries. Golice wind farm is Acciona Energia’s first such investment in Poland.

Project background

The location of the Golice Wind Park was earmarked for the development of a wind farm and included in the Slubice local development plan in March 2007.

In August 2007, it was also decided to construct a medium-voltage cable power network, transformer stations and power line to connect the power station with the 110kV overhead power line.

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the wind farm was undertaken as per the Polish Environmental Protection Law 2001.

A request for environmental consent to go ahead with the project was submitted to the Slubice City Office in September 2007. The EIA report was submitted in December 2007.

Environmental consent was issued in March 2008. A construction permit to build the wind farm with 19 wind turbines and associated infrastructure was issued in November 2008.

Construction of Acciona’s first wind park in Poland

The project broke ground in March 2011. Earthworks associated with the preparation of access roads, foundations for each turbine and cabling were completed by June 2011.

In order to avoid traffic congestion, the shipment of large-scale components, such as turbines and towers of the wind farm were undertaken only at night.

The first wind turbine was installed in August 2011. Technical acceptance tests were carried out in December after the installation of all wind turbines. The farm was commissioned on 20 December 2011.

Wind farm details

The overall area of the Golice wind farm is just over four square kilometres. The farm consists of 19 Gamesa G90 wind turbines of 2MW each.

In addition to the power plant, the project involved construction of a transformer station, putting up medium-voltage power cables to connect turbines with the transformer station, an underground power line connecting the transformer station, a 110kV overhead power line, a fibre optic telecommunications network and internal service roads with a total length of about 10km.

Gamesa G90 turbines

Tower, nacelle and rotor with three blades are the main components of the wind turbines. Total height of the wind turbines is 142.5m (100m tower and 42.5m long blades).

The power generator, which is positioned in nacelle, is furnished with an enclosed lubricating system and necessary electrical machineries.

Gamesa G90 2.0MW wind turbines have aerodynamic designs and are equipped with Gamesa NRS control system in order to keep noise emissions at the lowest possible level. These wind turbines can be monitored and controlled via web access.

Diameter of the rotor is 90m and the swept area is 6,362m2. Rotational speed varies between nine to 19rpm.

Weight of the rotor including the hub is about 36t and the top head mass is 106t. The turbine blades are made of pre-impregnated epoxy glass fibre and carbon fibre.

Polish power market

Power generation in Poland is very much dependent on fossil fuel and coal is the dominant fuel. Coal accounts for 55% of primary energy demand and is responsible for 92% of electricity production.

Power generation in the country is estimated to reach 175TWh and power consumption is forecasted to touch 160TWh by 2014.

The installed wind power capacity in Poland was 1,107MW in 2010, an increment of 53% compared to 2009. The Polish Government aims to produce 15% of its power demand from renewable sources by 2020.

According to European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) forecasts, wind energy production in Poland will reach between 10,500 and 12,500MW by 2020.