EIB in Talks with Czech CEZ on 500 Mln Euro Loan for Wind Farm Project in Romania – Media

BUCHAREST (Romania), May 11 (SeeNews) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is in talks with Czech power utility group CEZ on extending a loan worth some 500 million euro ($682 million) to finance a CEZ wind farm project in Romania, Bucharest-based daily Ziarul Financiar reported on Monday.

"We are in talks to finance two projects on renewable energy development in Romania and one of them is CEZ’s wind farm project in Dobrogea. Our financing could cover up to half of project’s value and we hope to complete the negotiations by the end of the year," Ziarul Financiar (www.zf.ro) quoted EIB's director for lending operations in South East Europe, Jean-Christophe Laloux, as saying.

Currently, CEZ is developing two wind farms in Romania - in Fantanele and in Cogealac, both in Dobrogea province, near the Black Sea. The farms will have a total capacity of 600 megawatts and are due to be completed in 2010. A total of 1.1 billion euro will be invested in them.

The EIB is also in talks on financing a 100-150 million euro project for the construction of a small hydropower plant in Romania, Laloux said without elaborating.

($=0.7335 euro)

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