At the Hitachi Energy Campus in Łódź, the largest transformers ever manufactured at the facility are currently being built for the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 offshore wind farm projects, developed by Polenergia and Equinor. They represent one of the key elements of the infrastructure required to transmit electricity generated by the Baltic Sea wind farms into Poland’s national power grid.

The Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 projects are among the largest infrastructure investments currently under development in Poland. The wind farms are being built in Poland’s Exclusive Economic Zone of the Baltic Sea, approximately 22 km and 37 km from the coastline. The combined installed capacity of the two projects will reach 1,440 MW, while the electricity generated by 100 wind turbines, each rated at 14.4 MW, will be sufficient to supply more than 2 million households. According to the project schedule, first power is expected to be delivered to the national grid in 2027, with full commissioning planned for 2028.

Work on the transformers is progressing in parallel with the advancement of the project both onshore and offshore. In the first quarter of 2026, the first stage of offshore preparatory works was completed, construction of the operations and maintenance base in Łeba is continuing, and the first transformers have already been delivered to substations in the Ustka area.

Responsibility for manufacturing the key transformers lies with the Hitachi Energy Campus in Łódź – the company’s largest transformer manufacturing centre in Europe and its second largest worldwide. The complex comprises four production plants, a Transformer Development Centre, an Engineering Services Centre and a Transformer Service Centre. The campus employs more than 2,100 specialists, while an investment currently under way, valued at more than PLN 62 million, will increase production capacity for transformer components and insulation elements by 50 per cent. The expansion is intended to support growing demand for equipment used in energy transition projects in Poland and around the world.

Hitachi Energy’s involvement in the Bałtyk 2 and Bałtyk 3 projects highlights the growing role of Polish industry in the development of the offshore wind sector. The transformers manufactured in Łódź constitute one of the key components of the infrastructure that will enable electricity generated by the largest offshore wind farms being developed by Polenergia and Equinor to be transmitted into the national power system.

Recently, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) also ordered eight autotransformers from Hitachi Energy, further strengthening Poland’s critical electricity transmission infrastructure.

The order covers regulating transformers (autotransformers), which will be deployed at extra-high-voltage substations. Their primary role will be to increase the transmission capacity of the national electricity system, improve grid stability, facilitate the integration of growing renewable energy capacity, including offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea, and adapt the transmission infrastructure to rising electricity demand.

Photo courtesy of Hitachi