EIB Global inks loan for 50-MW wind project on Bosnian mountain

The European Investment Bank (EIB), through EIB Global, is providing a loan to support the construction of a 50-MW wind farm high on a mountain in central Bosnia, the EU climate bank said on Monday.

EIB Global, the bank’s financial arm for activities outside the EU, has signed a EUR-36-million (USD 39m) loan to finance the construction and operation of up to 18 turbines as part of the Vlasic wind power project. The wind farm will be located on the high plateau of Vlasic mountain, about 15 km (9.3 miles) north-west of the town of Travnik, the EIB said.

Bosnian public utility JP Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine d.d. Sarajevo is behind the project, the cost of which is estimated at over EUR 91 million.

EIB Global’s loan comes on top of the EIB’s technical assistance grants totalling around EUR 300,000. The EU, through the Western Balkans Investment Fund (WBIF), also extended EUR 21 million in grants for the Vlasic project. Additionally, Germany’s KfW development bank is offering a EUR-16.5-million loan, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is providing a contribution of EUR 16.7 million.

“These types of projects are important, not only in terms of increased climate change, but also in their impact on all of us,” Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Finance Minister Srdjan Amidzic said. “The implementation of such projects is important for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I hope that there will be many more of them in the future, especially with our partners assisting in development and investing in all regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina equally,” added Amidzic.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.083)

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