€18m EBRD loan to Kosovo’s first wind farm

Kosovo, which relies for its energy on coal, will benefit from cleaner, more reliable energy from the first large-scale wind farm in the country. The EBRD is supporting the wind farm at Kitka in the east of Kosovo with an €18 million loan.

The investment represents a milestone towards decarbonisation in a country where lack of reliable access to electricity remains one of the biggest barriers to development.

More renewable energy will help address both the challenge of power cuts and pollution caused by the lignite coal powering Kosovo’s two main electricity plants.

The EBRD financing follows a successful policy engagement with the authorities in Kosovo to refine the renewable offtake framework. These reforms were critical to unlock financing for renewable projects and are expected to attract significant investor interest to Kosovo.

The project at Kitka has already begun operations, having been developed by the Turkish energy group Guris. It will raise annual national electricity generation by more than 1.4 per cent and reduce emissions by 81,000 tons of CO₂ a year.

Technical cooperation support for the investment project has been provided by the EU under its Regional Energy Efficiency Programme for the Western Balkans, supporting the technical due diligence.

Kosovo‘s current Energy Strategy sets an ambitious target of introducing about 400 MW of renewable projects by 2026. Renewable energy capacity before Kitka was around 70 MW, almost exclusively from small hydropower plants.

The EBRD is aiming to make 40 per cent of its annual investments in the green economy by 2020.

To date, the EBRD has invested €376 million in 64 projects in Kosovo.