The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting Romania’s renewable energy market with a €57 million loan for the development of the Topolog-Dorobanțu wind farm in the south east of the country.
The EBRD financing is structured under the Bank’s A/B loan scheme, with €38 million on the EBRD’s own account and the rest for the account of UniCredit.
The 84 MW wind farm, built by LUKERG Renew, a joint venture between Italy's ERG Renew and Russia's LUKOIL-Ecoenergo, comprises 42 Vestas V90 2 MW wind turbines located in the municipalities of Dorobanțu, Topolog and Casimcea in the Tulcea region of south-eastern Romania.
The facility will generate more than 200 GWh of electricity per year, corresponding to around 85 kt of avoided CO2 emissions.
LUKERG Renew’s Topolog-Dorobanțu project is the eighth wind farm that the EBRD has financed in Romania. The Bank previously financed the 108 MW Crucea North Wind Farm, the 138 MW Cernavoda I and II and the 90 MW Pestera wind farms, the 80 MW Chirnogeni wind farm as well as the 24 MW Vutcani and 33 MW Sarichioi wind farms, most of which are located in the Black Sea region of Dobrogea.
The total size of the EBRD’s wind energy portfolio in Romania stands at 473 MW, accounting for 18 per cent of Romania’s 2,619 MW of installed wind power capacity. For these transactions, the Bank mobilised finance of over €220 million, alongside its own investment of €164 million.
Signing the deal in Bucharest, EBRD Senior Banker Louis Borgo said: “Romania has large potential in renewable energy. We are happy to have been able to provide much-needed long-term financing to projects that help the country generate clean energy and support transition to a low-carbon economy. At the EBRD we are very proud to have made a significant contribution to helping Romania reach its renewable energy targets.”
The Bank is the largest institutional investor in Romania. Since the start of its operations in the country, the EBRD has invested approximately €6.7 billion across 360 projects. The Bank has further mobilised over €14 billion for these ventures from other sources of financing.