Israeli company Enlight Renewable Energy has signed an agreement to buy the rights to a 100MW wind farm in the Qawqaz region of Georgia in Europe.
The project is in the development stage and expected to complete development within 18-24 months, Enlight said.
It added that the project may be expanded by an additional 200MW, subject to increased wind energy quotas in Georgia.
The developers behind the project include an unnamed engineering company with experience in wind energy in central and Eastern Europe and a local Georgian development company, also unnamed.
A memorandum of understandings has been agreed with Georgia’s government and further negotiations on a detailed framework agreement are expected to include a power purchase agreement (PPA), which will anchor the project’s right to be connected to the country’s national grid.
The PPA will be entered at the expected feed-in tariff of $65 a megawatt hour for nine months every year, for a period of 10 years.
The sale of power in the remaining three months will be made under market conditions. At the end of the 10-year PPA period, the power will be sold at market prices.
Total cost of the project is estimated at $135-155m, including construction, financing costs and the acquisition of project rights.
Gross revenues from the project are estimated at $18-21m a year during the PPA term, and an average of $25-30m a year after that.
The completion of the first milestone of the purchase transaction hinges on several conditions’ precedent, mainly the signing of a framework and PPA agreement with the Georgian government, Enlight said.