The government of the Una-Sana Canton and Croatia’s Ivicom Consulting have signed a contract to regulate the parties’ relations concerning a concession agreement to build and operate wind turbines, each with a capacity of up to 5 MW, on the territory of Bihać, paving the way for launching a study on the economic viability of the BAM 120 million (about EUR 61.3 million) project, according to a press release from the cantonal government.

This will be a second wind farm on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mustafa Ružnić, the canton’s premier, said following the signature on February 14. According to earlier reports, the cantonal government gave the go-ahead for signing the contract with Ivicom in early January this year.

Economy minister Nijaz Kadirić, who signed the contract with the investor’s representatives, said this will be the biggest electricity generation project in the canton ever, adding that he hopes the study will confirm the potential for building the proposed wind farm, in what would make this part of the country independent in terms of electricity production.

Kadirić also said he hopes the research will show that the selected location, called Teočak, has the potential for building a wind farm with an installed capacity of 40 MW.

According to previous reports, the initial steps concerning the wind farm concession were taken in 2016.

Ivicom also working on Podveležje wind farm

Research on the selected location will take a year, according to Dinko Čondić, a representative of the Croatian firm, which is a member of Austria’s Ivicom Holding. Čondić recalled that Ivicom is currently also working on a wind farm in Podveležje in Mostar, and that the company has been involved in about 15 energy projects across the region.

According to earlier reports, Ivicom signed a memorandum of understanding last year with Montenegrin state power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) on a project to build the Gvozd wind farm in the municipality of Nikšić, with a projected installed capacity of 50 MW, in an estimated investment of about EUR 70 million.

Ivicom was also involved in developing the 72 MW Krnovo wind farm, which was put in operation in November 2017. Krnovo was built by France’s Akuo Energy and Ivicom, but the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Masdar has since signed an agreement to buy a 49% stake in the wind farm’s operator, a firm called Krnovo Green Energy.