Montenegro's EPCG in talks on 60 mln euro loan from EBRD for Gvozd wind farm

PODGORICA (Montenegro), June 29 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's majority state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) [BEL:EPCG] is in talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on a 60 million euro ($67.6 million) loan to finance the construction of the 54.6 MW Gvozd wind farm, the power utility said.

All tenders for the procurement of the main equipment for the wind farm, including the for the delivery of the wind turbines, construction works, connection to the transmission network and other infrastructure will be conducted in accordance with EBRD's rules, EPCG said in a statement on Saturday.

The construction works are expected to begin in 2021 and to take 18 months, the director of the development and engineering unit of EPCG, Ivan Mrvaljevic, has said.

"Exploratory geological works are in progress on the Krnovo plateau, at the location of the future Gvozd wind farm, which will provide tha basis for the preparation of technical documentation," he noted.

In September, the shareholders of EPCG approved a 58 million euro investment in the construction of the Gvozd wind farm in cooperation with Austria's Ivicom Holding GmbH, to be financed through loans.

Ivicom and France's Akuo Energy launched in November 2017 the Krnovo wind farm in Montenegro via their local subsidiary Krnovo Green Energy. The project had an estimated cost of 120 million euro, with 48.5 million euro coming from a senior loan extended by the EBRD.

($=0.8871 euro)

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