EBRD Sets Sails For First Wind Project In Ukraine

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is making its foray into the wind power market in Ukraine with a joint EUR 13.3 mln financing of Eco-Optima, a Ukraine-Italy joint venture undertaking. The two loans comprising the financing of the wind farm in Western Ukraine, in the Staryy Sambir region, are a 10-year EUR 9.5 mln loan from EBRD and a 15-year loan worth EUR 3.8 mln from the Clean Technology Fund. The 12.5 MW wind power plant that will be built using the loans is expected to generate 25.5 GWh of electricity per annum from five wind turbines. The project will be completed by the end of 2012 and will be able to supply more than 10,000 homes with clean, renewable energy, reducing the carbon footprint by 26,000 tonnes per annum. This is the first project to be funded under EBRD and CTF’s EUR 70 mln USELF, or Ukrainian Sustainable Energy Lending Facility.