Serbia's Pupin wind park gets 91 mln euro loan from EBRD, Erste

Under the arrangement, the EBRD and Erste will provide parallel loans of 45.7 million euro each, which Enlight’s local subsidiary will use to finance the development, construction and operations of the Pupin wind park, the EBRD said in a statement on Wednesday.

The project is jointly developed by Enlight and Serbian company New Energy Solutions (NES), and named in honour of Mihajlo Pupin, one of Serbia’s greatest scientists. The wind farm is expected to begin operating commercially in the second half of 2025, according to the statement.

The Pupin project is an extension of the existing 104.5 MW Kovacica wind farm in the northern province of Vojvodina, which is also owned by Enlight and was financed by the same lenders in 2017. The Kovacica wind farm was officially opened in 2019.

"Building the Pupin windfarm in close proximity to our existing Kovacica (Blacksmith) site represents a noteworthy implementation of our ‘Interconnection Expand’ strategy," Enlight Renewable Energy's CEO and co-founder, Gilad Yavetz, said in the EBRD statement.

Once commissioned, the Pupin wind farm will be able to supply electricity to more than 40,000 households.

The EBRD also noted that the Pupin project was financed under Serbia’s first renewable energy auction for wind capacity, which took place in 2023 and awarded contract-for-difference for 400 MW.

Serbia is expected to stage a second and third auction, each for 300 MW of wind capacity, in 2024 and 2025, respectively, with similar auctions to be held in parallel for solar power plants as well, the EBRD said, adding that the scheme was developed and launched with its technical and policy support and was funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The scheme aims to encourages the market integration of renewables, as developers receive support in line with market prices, as well as income from the sale of electricity.

“Serbia’s decision to move ahead with auctions is proving to be a game changer in terms of unlocking the country’s renewable energy potential. We are pleased to see Pupin being the first project to reach financial close and moving quickly through implementation," EBRD Regional Director for the Western Balkans, Matteo Colangeli, said in the statement.

Enlight develops, finances, constructs, owns, and operates utility-scale renewable energy projects, employing solar, wind and energy storage technologies in the US, Israel and 9 European countries.

The EBRD has invested 9 billion euro in more than 350 projects in Serbia to date.

($ = 0.925 euro)