A photovoltaic farm built within Orlen Group in the Wielbark area (Warmian-Masurian voivodeship) will be able to supply over 30,000 households with clean energy. The installation, with a total capacity of 62 MW, will reach full production capacity in the first quarter of 2023.

“The photovoltaic farm in the Wielbark area will start operating at full capacity after the expansion of additional transformer stations”, informs Orlen.

The company explained that the additional transformer stations, will increase the connection potential and enable the safe reception of the produced energy. Currently, commercial production at the farm is carried out from 12 MW panels connected to the transmission grid at an earlier stage of the investment.

The photovoltaic farm near Wielbark is one of the largest facilities of its kind in Poland – the farm consists of a total of approximately 140,000 panels with a unit power of up to 530 W, and the entire installation is operated by 337 inverters.

“We are finalising another investment that enables us to become independent of fossil fuels and produce clean, green energy. Photovoltaics, together with wind energy and small nuclear reactors, are the pillars of our strategic development, increasing the country’s energy security”, said PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek.

As he pointed out, the investment implemented in Wielbark means that the total capacity of Orlen Group installed in solar panels has already approached 100 MW.

According to the company, the construction of the photovoltaic farm near Wielbark required 56 permits and nearly 2.5 thousand tonnes of steel. The facility was built on an area of 119 hectares, mainly on low-grade farmland. The project was carried out by Energa Generation, a subsidiary of Energa of the Orlen Group. Orlen Group’s development strategy until 2030 envisages a consistent expansion of low- and zero-carbon generation sources.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński