NLB Komercijalna banka to finance expansion of Košava wind farm

NLB Komercijalna banka and NLB Group have signed a financing agreement with MK Fintel Wind for the expansion of its Košava wind farm in Serbia. The move would support Serbia’s energy transition, NLB Komercijalna banka said.

The Košava wind farm, with 20 operational turbines, has a capacity of 69 MW. The wind farm near Vršac was developed by MK-Fintel Wind, a joint venture between Italy’s Fintel Energia and Serbia’s MK Group, in an investment of EUR 118 million. It was put into operation in 2019, according to earlier reports.

The planned investment will add another 10 turbines, or 36 MW, over the next two years, increasing the wind park’s overall capacity to 105 MW, according to an announcement from the Belgrade-based bank.

The project will add 10 more wind turbines to the wind farm

The bank did not disclose the value of the financing agreement, but said the project would represent “one of the largest single financings realized by a banking group on the local market.”

With this project, NLB Komercijalna banka and NLB Group “continue to support the development of renewable energy projects, the financing of sustainable investments, and the improvement of energy efficiency, as key pillars of the strategy for building a sustainable future,” reads the statement.

For the second phase of Košava, they submitted a request for a 68.4 MW connection

Of note, MK Group and Fintel energija, a subsidiary of Fintel Energia Group from Italy, ended Serbia’s first auctions empty-handed as they bid EUR 84 per MWh for their four joint projects and one more didn’t meet the requirements for participation – Košava, planned at 47.5 MW.

For the second phase of Košava, they submitted a request for a 68.4 MW connection. However, the capacity is obviously lowered because they now obtained financing for 36 MW.

Fintel Energia and MK Group also built the 9.9 MW Kula wind farm, Serbia’s first, at the end of 2015, and the 6.6 MW La Piccolina wind farm, in October 2016.

In 2021, the two companies announced the Agrosolar Kula project, a simultaneous production of crops and electricity from solar energy in the same area. The investment in this project was estimated at EUR 340 million.

The Italian company is also developing an 854 MW wind farm in northern Serbia, called Maestrale Ring.