Concession agreement scrapped for Trusina wind farm

The government of Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has severed a concession agreement with Eol Prvi for the construction of the Trusina wind farm in Nevesinje, which had been announced to soak an investment of BAM 150 million (around EUR 76.5 million), the media in the region reported.

The start of construction on the Trusina wind farm had been repeatedly delayed. Even though the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining insisted that the investor was serious and that it had submitted credible results it was working on the project, the government of Republika Srpska still scrapped the contract in early March, Capital.ba reported.

According to Milan Baštinac, assistant minister at the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining, the government severed the agreement over the investor’s failure to submit a banking guarantee for the project.

“The concessionaire failed to submit a banking guarantee in the wake of the concession agreement signing,” said Baštinac, adding that there were no significant project developments from the moment the firm received the concession.

Asked why the agreement had not been canceled earlier over the concessionaire’s failure to submit the guarantee, Baštinac said that the government had tried to be flexible and that it understands problems concessionaires face.

“However, in this case, we exhausted all the possibilities, provided maximum conditions for the investment to be launched, approved new deadlines for the submission of the banking guarantee, sent warnings, but they failed to comply and we were forced to break the contract,” Baštinac said.

“The concessionaire failed to submit a banking guarantee in the wake of the concession agreement signing,” said Baštinac, adding that there were no significant project developments from the moment the firm received the concession.

Zlatko Mandžuka, top man of Nevesinje-registered Eol Prvi, said in July 2018 that the Trusina wind farm should launch production in late 2019.

The municipality of Nevesinje said at the time that the Trusina wind farm was designed to have 15 turbines, an installed capacity of 49.5 MW, and an annual output of around 160 GWh of electricity.

The UK-based Kermas Limited, owned by Croatian businessman Danko Končar, was supposed to be Eol Prvi’s strategic partner on the project.

The government of Republika Srpska issued a 30-year concession for the project back in 2012.