PGE Baltica signs letter of intent with Chordata. Turbines to get predictive acoustic monitoring

A turbine that can hear its own faults

Chordata's technology, known as acoustic maintenance, fits turbines with acoustic sensors that analyse the sound of the equipment in real time. Company co-founder Artur Rapacz described the approach at a July conference titled "Innovations in the energy sector," organised jointly by Chordata and PGE Baltica, saying the idea is essentially to give turbines a sense of hearing. Standard monitoring systems typically detect a fault only once it has already occurred. Acoustic analysis is meant to catch anomalies much earlier, before a component actually fails, allowing maintenance to be scheduled in advance and reducing costly downtime.

For an offshore wind operator, where reaching a turbine means sailing out to sea and depends on weather conditions, the difference between reactive and predictive maintenance translates directly into upkeep costs and the availability of generating capacity.

Local content as a stated goal

PGE Baltica frames the agreement with Chordata as part of its work to develop a domestic supply chain for the offshore wind sector, a concept the industry commonly refers to as local content. The partnership also envisages a knowledge, experience and data exchange platform between the companies, intended to support the development of Polish firms' competencies in offshore wind technology.

"At PGE Baltica we take a strategic approach both to developing the domestic supply chain and to seeking innovative solutions for the offshore wind sector," said PGE Baltica chief executive Bartosz Fedurek, quoted in the company's statement. He added that delivering investments on schedule remains a priority, but the company is simultaneously looking for technologies that can improve wind farm efficiency while supporting the growth of domestic competencies.

Part of a wider offshore portfolio

PGE Baltica currently manages eight offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea at various stages of development, with a combined capacity exceeding 6 GW, making it the largest offshore wind developer in Poland by portfolio size. Under the PGE Group's strategy, the company plans to build around 4 GW of capacity with partners by 2035. The most advanced project remains Baltica 2, developed as a 50/50 joint venture with Denmark's Ørsted, where seabed preparation work for export and inter array cables is already under way.

The letter of intent with Chordata is not a binding implementation agreement, only a declared intention to explore cooperation. Whether the acoustic technology sees real world use on Polish wind farms will depend on the outcome of the joint analysis and on when in the operating life of its offshore projects PGE Baltica decides to roll out new predictive tools, given that the first farms in its portfolio will not come online for several more years.