On 7 September 2023, the Baranów-Rychtal Wind Farm was ceremoniously opened. The project is another of the many undertakings carried out by the Polish branch of VSB Group, one of the leaders in the renewable energy sector, and it has opened the way to produce enough energy to cover the needs of a city the size of Opole or Legnica. It is another important step in the implementation of the Polish energy policy for 2040 (PEP2040).
The Baranów-Rychtal Wind Farm was constructed and is managed by VSB Energie Odnawialne Polska, a company of VSB Group, which has for 15 years been actively and efficiently contributing to the energy transition process, first of all in the sector of wind and solar energy.
The Group operates in multiple European countries and it creates and transforms the energy-related reality, first of all through the prism of local cooperation with self-government public authorities and companies it is on these entities that the success of the activities undertaken largely depends.
The capacity of the Baranów-Rychtal Wind Farm is 42.6 megawatts (MW). It consists of 11 wind turbines in total ten Nordex N131 3.9 MW turbines and one Nordex N117 3.6 MW turbine. All of them generate green electricity.
"Each new wind farm project launched in Poland is another step towards achieving the goal of energy security and reducing the impact of the sector on the environment," says Hubert Kowalski, Managing Director of VSB Energie Odnawialne Polska. "But first of all it is healthy and clean energy for approximately 36 thousand Polish households, as the case is for the Baranów-Rychtal wind farm. Not only that - it is also a huge benefit for the atmosphere as a fully operational wind farm will allow us to reduce harmful CO2 emissions to a level of approximately 45,000 tonnes annually in comparison to conventional fossil fuels", adds Hubert Kowalski.
The whole farm formation process, from first approvals, analysis and tests through the design and formal stage to the implementation and start-up process, took over a decade in total. The building permit for the Kępno district was approved at the end of 2019, and then the farm won a renewable energy auction in 2020. The construction of the 11 turbines itself, in two municipalities, took a little more than 2 years, from 2021 to June 2023. "The thing we found a challenge was an extraordinary height of the turbines including their foundations, which we had to erect as much as 4 metres above the grade level at the turbine. The complex construction process did not encounter any serious problems though, except for summer thunderstorms which caused our work to stop for safety reasons", says Marek Matkowski, Project Manager for the Baranów-Rychtal Project at VSB.
In spite of appearances, the construction of a wind farm is a complex endeavour, the success of which depends on multiple factors. "The key is the relationships and cooperation with local business units and representatives of the authorities. For Baranów and Rychtal municipalities, this was the Kępno district and the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), as well as technological partners to whom we pass on our appreciation and thanks", says Felix Grolman, CEO of VSB Group.
Notably, VSB Energie Odnawialne Polska has already started the construction of another wind farm which will be located near Racibórz in the Silesian Voivodeship. It will be capable of producing 41.6 MW of energy to cover the needs of around 40,000 households. Its completion is planned for the end of 2024.
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Sandy Richter
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About VSB Group
VSB, headquartered in Dresden (Germany), is one of Europe's leading vertically integrated developers in the field of renewable energies. Its core business is project development of onshore wind and photovoltaic parks, their operational management as well as the operation of its own assets as a growing independent power producer. VSB operates in nine European countries and has a pipeline of more than 15 GW. Since 1996, VSB has commissioned more than 700 wind energy and photovoltaic plants with a combined installed capacity of approximately 1.3 GW. VSB also provides services for around 3.2 GW worth of installed plants. With its affiliated companies, the Group employs over 500 people. Further information: www.vsb.energy
