SARAJEVO (Reuters) – German wind and solar park developer wpd will invest 500 million euros ($578 million) to build a 400 megawatt (MW) wind park in North Macedonia, the Balkan country’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, said on Tuesday.
“This is the largest direct green field investment in the economy of North Macedonia since the declaration of independence,” Zaev told a news conference in Skopje, called along with representatives of wpd and the German embassy and aired online.
The Virovi wind park, which has been declared a strategic project by the government, will help the transition of the coal-dominated power generation in the Balkan country to green resources, adding 400 MW to the 700 MW green target set by the government, Zaev said.
The building is set to start in three years and be completed in six years, while a strategic partnership with wpd was agreed for 45 years. The estimated annual production will amount to 1.335,95 gigawatt hours, while the annual reduction in CO2 emissions is estimated to be 310,000 tons, officials said.
The wind park, which will have 69 turbines, will be built in three phases on three locations, and supply about 290,000 households with electricity.
The government will not subsidise the project, except that it will help wpd to get all necessary permits without delays.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Steve Orlofsky)
