BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 28. Enlight Renewable Energy (Enlight) will be constructing a new windfarm in Serbia, thanks to a financing package worth 91.4 million euros approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) along with Erste Group Bank AG and its local bank Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad (Erste), Trend reports.
The financial package, according to the EBRD, will significantly help Serbia achieve its goal of diversifying its energy mix.
The EBRD and Erste will each extend parallel loans totaling 45.7 million euros, including associated debt service reserve facilities, with Enlight's local subsidiary slated to employ the funds for the development, construction, and operation of the 94-megawatt (MW) windfarm, a collaborative venture between Enlight and New Energy Solutions (NES).
The Pupin project, which is expected to begin commercial operations in the second half of 2025, is an extension of the Kovacica (Blacksmith) windfarm that is now in operation in Vojvodina. It is owned by Enlight and was previously financed by the same lenders in 2017.
Once commissioned, the Pupin windfarm will supply clean electricity to over 40,000 households, equivalent to a medium-sized city like Zrenjanin, facilitating Serbia's transition to a greener economy and addressing its urgent need to diversify away from fossil fuels amidst coal-dominated electricity production.
This project was financed under Serbia’s first renewable energy auction for wind capacity in 2023, which allocated contract-for-difference for 400 MW, with subsequent auctions planned for 2024 and 2025, each for 300 MW of wind capacity, alongside parallel auctions for solar power plants, facilitated by technical and policy assistance from the EBRD and funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Meanwhile, Erste Group Bank AG is one of the leading financial services providers in central and eastern Europe, with more than 16 million customers and total assets worth more than 337 billion euros.
The EBRD stands as a prominent institutional investor in Serbia, having committed 9 billion euros across more than 350 projects within the country thus far.
