The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced Thursday a syndicated loan of €150 million for the construction of a 250-megawatt wind farm in Ukraine, which will be the country's largest of its kind.
The loan will be extended to local developer SyvashEnergoProm LLC, co-owned by renewable energy groups Total Eren of France and NBT of Norway, for the construction of the initial 133 MW phase, according to a statement from EBRD.
The farm will be built in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, and is expected to begin power generation by the end of 2019.
Once the project is fully commissioned, it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 470,000 tonnes annually, and to produce over 850,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy each year – enough to provide power to the Ukrainian municipality of Rivne, which has approximately 100,000 households.
The loan package will consist of a €75 million EBRD A-loan and a B-Loan of up to €75 million from the Frankfurt-based Green for Growth Fund and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). A parallel loan of €5 million will be provided by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO).
The wind farm is the latest investment under the EBRD's €250 million Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility III (USELF III) framework approved by the bank in July 2018, according to the statement.
"USELF III builds on two previous programs co-financed by the EBRD and the Clean Technology Fund, which yielded 13 renewable energy projects in Ukraine with an aggregate installed capacity of 151 MW," the bank said.
A funding window of the $8 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Clean Technology Fund provides new large-scale financial resources to invest in clean technology projects in developing countries, which contribute to the demonstration, deployment, and transfer of low-carbon technologies with a significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr