July 15 (SeeNews) - Bosnia's Serb Republic has awarded a 50-year concession contract to UK-based EFT Group for the construction of a 104 million marka ($61 million/53 million euro) photovoltaic (PV) plant in the southern municipality of Bileca, the entity's energy ministry said.
The contract was signed on July 14 by the Serb Republic energy minister Petar Djokic and the head of EFT's local unit - Energy Financing Team SE Bileca, Ranko Cokorilo, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The solar plant will have an installed capacity of 60 MW and will produce 84 GWh of electricity per year. The concessionaire will be able to sell the output on the domestic market and export it, the statement reads.
The construction of the plant should be completed within 3 years.
The concessionaire has paid a one-off fee of 700,000 marka, and will pay a concession fee of 0.0055 marka per kWh produced once the plant is commissioned.
According to earlier media reports, the PV plant will spread on an area of 133 hectares in the village of Skrobotno, close to the town of Bileca.
In Bosnia, EFT controls one of the country's largest electricity producers and exporters - the 300 MW Stanari thermal power plant, via its subsidiary EFT Rudnik i Termoelektrana Stanari.
EFT Group, owned by Serbian businessman Vuk Hamovic, is an energy trading and investment group focused on Western, Central and Southeastern Europe.
The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Federation.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)