EBRD, IFC Lend 73.3 Mln Euro to Romania’s Pestera Power for Wind Farm Project

BUCHAREST (Romania), July 12 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said on Tuesday they were lending a combined 73.3 million euro ($102.2 million) to finance the operation of a wind farm in Romania.

EBRD and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, are lending 36.7 million euro each to Pestera Power SA, majority-owned by Portugal's EDP Renovaveis, to co-finance the operation of the 90 megawatt (MW) Pestera wind farm, the two institutions said in a joint statement.

Both banks will retain 26.9 million euro for their own accounts, syndicating 9.7 million euro each to a group of commercial banks.

This is the second investment and project financing by the EBRD and IFC in the renewable energy sector in Romania, following their joint investment last month in the 138 MW Cernavoda wind farm, also majority owned by EDPR.

The Pestera and Cernavoda wind farms in southeastern Romania will together comprise one of the largest wind farms in the country, with a total capacity of 228 MW. This will represent roughly 40% of the total wind generation capacity in Romania, the two banks said.

To date the EBRD has financed the construction and operation of numerous renewable energy projects in the EBRD’s countries of operations, including Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Mongolia and Turkey, having committed over 585.5 million euro in the renewable energy sector.

EBRD has invested over 5.1 billion euro in various sectors of Romania's economy so far, including more than 576 million euro in the energy sector.

($=0.7172 euro)

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