The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €60m loan agreement with Lithuanian energy company Ignitis Group for the construction of a 94MW wind farm in the Pomeranian region of Poland.
The debt will cover around 47% of the investment costs of the project, which is being developed by Pomerania Wind Farm, a subsidiary of Ignitis Renewables, which is part of Ignitis Group.
The project, approximately 50km from the coastline of the Bay of Gdansk, in the municipalities of Dzierzgon and Stary Targ, will host 29 turbines.
Works began in July 2019 and the wind farm is slated to come online in spring of next year.
The EIB financing is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, in which the European Commission and the EIB are strategic partners.
The wind park will generate 300 gigawatt hours of electricity annually on average.
EIB vice president Teresa Czerwinska said: “There is huge potential for generating energy from renewable sources in Poland, and this project is yet another example of how wind farms can contribute to the country’s energy mix and sustainable development.
“The EIB has considerable expertise in financing wind energy around the world. With our new Energy Lending Policy, we are committed to supporting even more such projects and we are happy that this particular project is very much in line with our climate objectives”.
Ignitis Group board member and business development head Dominykas Tuckus said: “Sustainable development through the implementation of renewable energy projects not only in Lithuania but also abroad is top priority for the Ignitis Group in its Strategy 2030.
“Through these projects, we aim to increase our competitiveness and make a significant contribution to accelerated decarbonisation of energy sector”.
In 2019, the EIB invested around €4bn in renewable energy projects around the world, of which €945m went to onshore wind farms. The new Energy Lending Policy, approved by the EIB board of directors in November 2019, is likely to trigger more investments in this sector, said the bank.