Čibuk 1, Serbia’s largest wind farm, fully constructed

Construction has been completed on the 158 MW Čibuk 1, Serbia’s largest wind farm, according to a news release from one of the financial institutions that approved a loan for the project. The wind farm has started trial production.

Čibuk 1, with 57 wind turbines, “is fully constructed,” reads a news release from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), adding that both Čibuk 1 and Kovačica, for which the bank also provided financing, “have started producing electricity and are now in the final phase before they can be officially connected to the grid.”

The 104.5 MW Kovačica wind farm, operated by Israel’s Enlight Renewable Energy, has started trial production and is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of the year, the company said earlier.

Čibuk 1 is fully constructed, in final phase preceding official grid connection

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Masdar, the majority stakeholder in Tesla Wind, which owns Vetroelektrane Balkana, the project company behind Čibuk 1, earlier said that Čibuk 1 would start production in early 2019.

The wind farm is eligible for feed-in tariff payments.

GE Renewable Energy supplied the 57 wind turbines for Čibuk 1.

The EUR 300 million investment is backed by some EUR 215 million in lending from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and EBRD, according to earlier reports.

The Čibuk 1 wind farm is expected to provide electricity to 113,000 homes and displace more than 370,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, Masdar has said.

Vetroelektrane Balkana (WEBG), the project company behind Čibuk 1, is wholly owned by Tesla Wind, a joint venture between Masdar (60%), Finnish energy infrastructure developer Taaleri Energia (30%), and DEG, a subsidiary of Germany’s KfW Group, (10%).

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for Čibuk 1 was signed in October 2016.