Ignitis Renewables will implement the audit recommendations on commercial offshore wind farm development

The National Audit Office carried out an audit of Curonian Nord, a commercial offshore wind farm. Ignitis Renewables will implement all three recommendations of the audit. The company will transfer the assets created, the work done and the obligations assumed in relation to the Curonian Nord project to its wholly owned subsidiary Offshore Wind Farm 1 and will revise the agreements concluded with the suppliers performing seabed surveys. Ignitis Renewables will also conduct an analysis of internal and external factors affecting the offshore wind farm project and will present the results to the stakeholders. All recommendations are already being implemented.

The audit findings point out that the project is being partially implemented by Ignitis Renewables, and not by its wholly owned project company Offshore Wind Farm 1 solely. The company believes that the working model chosen for the initial project development stage allowed the work to be carried out faster and cheaper as financing for the newly established project company would have been more expensive, and additional guarantees would have been required by the service providers. According to the company's calculations, this decision generated up to EUR 5 million in savings during the initial project development stage.

On 5 November 2025, an agreement was signed whereby all project contracts, ownership rights, interests and obligations were transferred from Ignitis Renewables to its wholly owned subsidiary, Offshore wind farm 1. Currently, the results of all the work carried out for the project up until this point have been transferred to the project company.

The second audit finding indicates that, before Ignitis Renewables repurchased the project company's shares from its partner OW Offshore, S. L., the distribution of costs and responsibilities among the joint venture partners participating in the project was not in line with the expected financial benefits (distributed profit). The company notes that this project will only generate profit after it reaches the commercial operation date (COD) (post 2030). To date, no profit has been generated by the project, so it was not distributed. On 13 October 2025, Ignitis Renewables acquired 100% of the project company's shares, so it will receive 100% of the project's profit.

The third audit finding indicates that, during the development of the Curonian Nord project, the division of the seabed surveys into two stages led to the inefficient use of EUR 4 million, out of the total investments of EUR 60.3 million. The company, drawing on the experience of experts who had implemented similar projects in other countries, opted for a two-stage survey model. The aim was to manage risks and ensure more efficient work in the future by reducing the risk of needing additional surveys and the risk of making suboptimal or ineffective decisions in other stages of the project. During this survey, the most complex areas of the project were systematically investigated, including the deepest point of the project and the area where rock layers are likely to be close to the seabed surface. These factors determine and limit the options when choosing foundations. This information is necessary to correctly select the type of foundations in the future, which can determine the difference in the required project investments by up to EUR 100 million.

„In general, offshore wind projects are complex and Curonian Nord is the first of its kind in Lithuania. It is therefore particularly important to follow the best international practices and continuously improve our processes. The audit conducted by the National Audit Office is useful to us, and Ignitis Renewables will implement its recommendations, we have already started doing so,” says Frank Oomen, CEO of Ignitis Renewables.

This year, while performing its regular oversight functions, the Ignitis Group Supervisory Board also conducted an independent assessment of the Curonian Nord project development. With the help of independent experts from Wood Mackenzie, the project implementation schedule, investment assumptions, and risk management practices were assessed and compared against global and European offshore wind projects.

The assessment concluded that, although the offshore wind energy market is currently facing challenges, the Curonian Nord offshore wind farm project developed by Ignitis Renewables in Lithuania is being developed properly, in line with the best industry practices. The multiple project implementation scenarios adopted by the project’s team represents a robust approach that aligns with industry standards, the investments made to date are justified, and their level is not higher than comparable projects, and the company has strong risk governance framework.

In February 2025, the company announced in its annual report that, given the delay in the development of large-scale electrolysis projects across Europe, the opportunities for securing long-term PPAs had diminished. Considering the above and the challenges related to the supply chain for offshore wind turbine components, there may be challenges in financing the project. Therefore, it may be needed to postpone the start of commercial operations of the project. Ignitis Renewables is currently continuing preparatory work on the project and making the necessary investments to obtain a construction permit by 2027.