Macedonia Says Gets 33 Mln Euro Wind Park Loan from Germany's KfW

SKOPJE (Macedonia), April 11 (SeeNews) – Macedonia said on Monday it has signed a 32.9 million euro ($47.6 million) loan deal with German bank KfW to co-finance the construction of a wind park in the country's south.

The total value of the project, scheduled to be launched in the Bogdanci municipality in the fall, is estimated at 55 million euro with state-owned power producer ELEM chipping in the remainder of the funding, Macedonia's Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The loan deal was signed by representatives of the ministry, ELEM and the German state-owned development bank on Saturday.

The wind park will be developed in two stages with up to 18 wind turbines with a total capacity of 37 megawatts (MW) due to be deployed during the initial phase that will last up to two years. Annual production is projected at 100 gigawatthours.

In the second phase, the wind park's total capacity will be increased to 50 MW with the deployment of additional turbines, the statement said.

The project is part of government plans to align Macedonia's power industry with European Union directives which call for 20% of energy to be derived from renewable sources by 2020.

($=0.6913 euro)

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