PKN ORLEN appoints financial advisor for the Baltic Power

‘Transformation of the power sector remains a major challenge, but renewable projects are increasingly cost-effective. A key element of the transformation process is to raise finance for zero-carbon energy projects. Our experience in raising funds for green projects has been very positive, and we can see investors are willing to engage in them, as evidenced by strong investor interest in PKN ORLEN’s green Eurobond issues. Baltic Power is a good example of a project that offers benefits to both investors, the ORLEN Group and the Polish economy as a whole,’ said Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN ORLEN Management Board.

The role of the advisor will be to develop a complete concept of raising funds for the project along with an execution schedule. The consortium will also assist in the preparation of the required documentation and establish contracts with potential partners.

‘The consortium we have selected combines two features that are vital to us – in-depth knowledge of the Polish market and a long track record of raising capital for offshore wind projects. Financing large-scale offshore projects is still new to local financial institutions. The combined knowledge and experience of the two companies will help with effective fundraising and will set the course for the financing of similar ventures in the Baltic Sea,’ notes Jarosław Broda, President of the Baltic Power Management Board.

The companies selected in the process have the required expertise and experience in providing financial advisory to energy projects. Pekao Investment Banking is a Polish company with an over 20-year track record of providing comprehensive advisory services focused on developing financial strategies and structuring and implementing fundraising processes for energy and other projects. Green Giraffe is an international financial advisory firm, specialising in the renewable energy sector. With its operating history dating back to 2010, the company has been involved in renewable energy projects with a total capacity of over 100 GW, most of them located in Europe. The advisor’s offshore wind experience in raising offshore wind non-recourse project finance debt is founded on close to 30 projects with a total capacity of approximately 9 GW.

The 1.2 GW Baltic Power offshore wind project is implemented by PKN ORLEN in partnership with Northland Power of Canada. The project site, with an area of approximately 131 km2, is located about 23 km north of the Baltic coastline, near Łeba and Choczewo.