Masdar secures funding for Serbia’s 154MW wind farm

A joint venture involving Masdar, the UAE’s renewables energy major, has reached financial close on the 154-megawatt (MW) Čibuk 2 wind farm in Serbia.

UniCredit and Erste (Erste Group and Erste Bank Serbia) are providing a  €144 million ($160 million) debt facility for the project, the UAE state-run Wam reported.

The wind farm is being developed by Masdar Taaleri Generation, a joint venture between Masdar and Finland’s Taaleri Energia, along with Serbia-based New Energy Solutions.

Germany’s Nordex is supplying the turbines and will handle operations and maintenance for the project under a 35-year contract.

Construction is already underway, with the project expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2026. Once completed, Čibuk 2 will generate renewable energy sufficient to power 62,000 households, displacing 311,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

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Čibuk 2 will share a grid connection point with the 158MW Čibuk 1 wind farm, which became operational in October 2019.

The completion of the new wind farm will bring Masdar’s total renewable energy capacity in Serbia to 312MW, making the combined Čibuk project the largest operational wind farm in the country.

Masdar plans to increase its regional investments, CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said, without giving details.

Serbia has set a target of 41 percent renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Masdar has developed and partnered with projects in over 40 countries since 2006, aiming to generate 100GW by 2030.