Macedonia's ELEM kicks off EUR 55.5m wind power project - report

(ADPnews) – May 10, 2011 - Macedonian state-owned power producer Elektrani na Makedonija (ELEM) has started preparations for the construction of a EUR 55.5 million (USD 79m) wind farm in southern Macedonia, news provider SeeNews reported yesterday.

ELEM will partner with German company Fichtner for the development of the project, SeeNews quoted ELEM’s director general Vlatko Cingoski as saying.

German development bank KfW will co-finance the project with a EUR 32.9 million loan and ELEM will contribute the remaining EUR 22.6 million.

The wind farm will be developed in two stages with a total capacity of 37 MW due to be installed during the first phase which will take two years to complete. The facility is projected to produce 100 GWh of electricity annually. In the second phase, the total capacity will be raised to 50 MW.

Six companies and four consortia have qualified in the first stage of a tender for the Cebren and Galiste hydropower plants, Cingoski said, adding that they are expected to submit binding bids by the end of July. The winner of the tender will build the two plants in a public-private partnership with ELEM and will then operate the plants under a concession arrangement.

The two facilities will have a combined capacity of 526 MW. The construction of the Cebren power plant is projected to cost EUR 340 million and the value of Galiste is seen at EUR 200 million.

Currently, ELEM operates two thermal and seven hydropower plants, which generated 6,462 GWh of electricity last year.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.431)

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