Long-delayed construction of Bosnia's 49.5 MW Trusina wind park to begin shortly - FIPA

BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 5 (SeeNews) – The construction of the 49.5 MW Trusina wind park in Bosnia’s Serb Republic is expected to begin in the next few months, after several years of delays due to legal issues, the country's Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) said.

The wind park, with a projected cost of 140 million marka ($83.6 million/71.6 million euro), is planned to release its first kilowatts of electricity by the end of 2019, FIPA said in a statement earlier this week.

It is being built by UK-based diversified holding Kermas with the largest share in the project of 87%, local firm Eol prvi with 10% and the municipal government of Nevesinje with 3%.

A contract with Danish company Vestas is expected to be signed for the purchase and maintenance of wind turbine equipment on July 6, FIPA said.

The Banja Luka-based unit of Russia's Sberbank is at the head of the banking consortium which will finance more than two-thirds of the investment, while the remainder will be provided by the three investors.

Once completed, the wind farm is expected to produce 160 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power some 40,000 households.

Bosnian company Eol Prvi was given a 30-year concession for the construction of the wind parkby the government of the Serb Republic in 2012.

The Serb Republic is one of two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other is the Federation.

(1 euro=1.95583 marka)