Financial close on phase II of 250 MW wind project in Ukraine

Norwegian NBT AS and French Total Eren SA have achieved financial close on phase II of 250 MW Syvash wind project in Kherson region of Ukraine. With an expected total investment of EUR 380 million, the Syvash wind project will become the largest wind farm in Ukraine with planned production over 850 GWh per year and will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 100,000 households in the municipality of Rivne.

The second 117 MW phase is funded with a EUR 107.6 million (USD 121.2m) loan from a syndicate of lenders:

• Propoparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency, has provided EUR 42.6 million;
• The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) provided some EUR 30 million;
• NEFCO contributed EUR 5 million;
• The Danish Development Finance Institution (IFU) and Finnfund each provided EUR 15 million.

The companies announced that recently Saudi Arabian conglomerate Algihaz took a minority stake in the project, alongside Total Eren. Details about the transaction were not provided.

The construction is planned to start before the summer 2019 and the project is scheduled to start operation in 2020. The wind farm will consist of 64 wind turbines and the output will be sold to state-owned company Energorynok, Ukraine’s wholesale electricity market operator.