North Macedonia’s ESM gets KfW’s donation for Bogdanci wind farm expansion

German development bank KfW has allocated MKD 10 million (about EUR 162,500) to North Macedonia’s state-owned electricity producer Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM – formerly ELEM) for updating an environmental impact assessment study and securing other consulting services for an expansion of the Bogdanci wind farm.

The second phase of the Bogdanci project envisages an investment of EUR 21 million, of which EUR 18 million has been provided by KfW in the form of a loan and the rest by ESM.

The agreement on the MKD 10 million grant was signed by Vasko Kovačevski, who was recently appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of ESM, and Rainer Sunnen, KfW’s project manager for financing energy projects in Southeast Europe.

Bogdanci, North Macedonia’s first wind farm, currently has 16 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW, or a total of 36.8 MW, which were built in an investment of EUR 55 million

According to the ESM website, in addition to updating the EIA study, the donation will be used to pay for other consulting services, including geological and geotechnical testing and the preparation of tendering documentation.

North Macedonia’s first wind power plant has been online since 2015. The second phase will add four more wind turbines, with a combined capacity of 13.8 MW, in what will increase the total capacity to 50 MW.

The expansion of Bogdanci wind farm involves an increase in installed capacity by about 14 MW, with an investment estimated at EUR 21 million

In April, ESM invited bids to supply and install a 10 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant adjacent to its Oslomej coal power plant. The solar power plant will be the largest in the country.

ESM produces the lion’s share of its electricity at coal-fired power plants with a combined installed capacity of 824 MW, while the renewables share stands at 20%.

The biggest share of ESM’s power production comes from coal-fired power plants with a combined installed capacity of 824 MW, generating 5,000 GWh annually, while hydropower plants (HPPs) with a combined capacity of 554 MW provide 1,200 GWh and the Bogdanci wind farm, 100 GWh. The share of renewables in electricity production is about 20%.

At the end of 2017, North Macedonia had 753 MW of installed capacity in renewables. The largest part comes from HPPs, 692 MW, wind power plants, 36.8 MW, solar, 17 MW, and biogas, 7 MW.