EBRD provides €45m loan for Turkey’s largest wind farm(4)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a €45 million loan to help finance a wind farm project in southern Turkey.

It is the first time the London-based organisation has lent to a project in Turkey, which is the sixth largest electricity market in Europe.

Wind power: attracting EBRD financing

In a statement, the EBRD said financing of the 135-megawatt on-shore independent wind farm located in Osmaniye was also coming from a part of the World Bank Group, which is providing €55 million. It is being developed by Rotor Elektrik, a company incorporated in Turkey and a member of Zorlu Holding, one of the largest conglomerates in Turkey.

The farm is expected to become operational by the end of this year and will be Turkey’s largest wind farm, consisting of 54 wind turbines. Itis expected to significantly boost Turkey’s current installed wind generation capacity of around 500 megawatts, increasing it by around 30 percent, said the EBRD.

The bank only put Turkey on its list of target countries to invest in last September.

EBRD first vice-president Varel Freeman said in a statement that the EBRD was delivering on its pledge to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in Turkey’s regions.

The country is one of the fastest growing electricity markets in the world, it said. In order to meet demand and diversify away from expensive, imported fuel sources, the Turkish authorities are pushing for increased electricity generation from renewable energy sources.

Turkey is aiming to connect to the grid 10,000 megawatts of wind capacity alone by 2020. Currently, wind power comprises less than 0.5 percent of total electricity consumed.

The Osmaniye wind farm would be the first large-scale wind project developed on a project finance basis.