The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 200 million to finance the construction of an onshore wind farm near the Black Sea Coast in Dobrogea province, north of Constanta, Romania.
The new wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 347.5 MW. It will be developed at two separate sites located on the eastern and western edges of the village of Fantanele. The wind farm will supply electricity to the Romanian national transmission grid.
EIB Vice-President Matthias Kollatz Ahnen, responsible for lending in Romania, commented: “The new wind farm is an important climate action project. Once operational, it will help Romania to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and meet national targets for electricity generation from renewable energy sources and contribute to the diversification of the energy supply.”
The EIB will co-finance the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the wind farm near the village of Fantanele, as well as the construction of transformer stations and interconnection with the national electricity grid. The wind farm will comprise 139 turbines with a nominal unit capacity of 2.5 MW. Once fully operational, the project will contribute to the achievement of Romania’s targets for energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020 and also to the realisation of the compulsory green certificates quotas. The owner of the wind farm is CEZ a.s., an energy holding company majority owned by the Czech state which will implement the project through its fully owned Romanian subsidiaries – Tomis Team SRL and MW Team Invest SRL.
This loan builds on the EIB’s very good cooperation with CEZ a.s. whereby the Bank is financing projects in the field of energy generation and distribution with loans amounting to over EUR 500 million.
In 2009 the EIB financed renewable energy and energy efficiency with loans amounting to more than EUR 4.2 billion.
Background:
The mission of the EIB, the European Union’s bank, is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States by financing sound investments. Thanks to its Statute and shareholders (the 27 Member States, including Romania), the EIB has a AAA rating and can therefore borrow funds on the capital markets on favourable terms, which it passes on via the loans that it grants to its customers and final beneficiaries.
EIB lending in Romania since 1990 totals around EUR 8.7 billion, including the current loan. It serves to finance investment projects designed to strengthen Romania’s competitiveness and increase the quality of life of the country’s citizens.