EBRD Loans €58 mn to Build Kosovo’s Largest Wind Farm

EBRD has announced that it is loaning EUR 58 million to help finance the construction and operation of the 105 MW Bajgora wind farm in Kosovo.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it is loaning EUR 58 million to help finance the construction and operation of the 105 MW Bajgora wind farm in Kosovo. The loan is half of the total required financing for the project, with rest provided by Erste Group Bank and NLB Bank, both benefiting from the cover provided by the German export credit agency Euler Hermes.

When complete, the Bajgora will represent about 10 percent of the country’s installed capacity and avoid 247,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, making a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. This will be the largest electricity plant constructed in Kosovo since the 1980s and represents a major step forward in the country’s energy transition. More renewable energy will help address the twin challenges of reducing power cuts and avoiding pollution caused by the coal powering Kosovo’s two existing main electricity plants.

This investment follows three years of EBRD work with the government to make legislative reforms to unlock project financing of renewables in the country. Once constructed, the project will take Kosovo’s renewable installed capacity beyond 200 MW and give a significant boost towards achieving the 400 MW target the country has set itself to reach by 2026.

The funding for the wind farm will enable its owners, Sowi Kosovo LLC, to build and operate a wind farm in the Mitrovica municipality.

”We are delighted to be partnering again with Enlight and our co-financiers to support this landmark project. It is great to see a country that has relied for so long on lignite to begin to exploit its renewable potential. The success of this project is a tribute to all involved, but especially the Kosovar authorities, who have built a contractual framework that can attract high-quality international investors and lenders,” said Harry Boyd-Carpenter, director for Energy EMEA at EBRD.

The European bank is aiming to make 40 percent of its annual investments in the green economy by 2020. And this latest investment is the largest private-sector project that the EBRD has signed in Kosovo to date. Altogether the bank has invested EUR 413 million in 67 projects in the country.