EBRD, UniCredit Provide Funding for 50 MWp Solar Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend EUR 25.1 million (USD 27.7m) in debt financing to back the development and construction of a 50-MWp solar farm complex in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The loan will be extended to domestic utility Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (SAJ:JPESR), or EPBiH, the lender announced on Wednesday. In addition to its own funding, the EBRD has facilitated the mobilisation of a parallel loan of EUR 15 million by local UniCredit Bank d.d.

The project that will benefit from the fresh financing envisages the installation of a complex of two adjacent photovoltaic (PV) farms on a former coal ash landfill site. The twin plants will be located in the municipality of Gracanica, in the northeastern part of the Balkan country, forming EPBiH’s largest PV site to date.

The solar project is part of a broader cooperation between the EBRD and EPBiH that aims to support Bosnia’s largest power utility’s transition to renewable energy. The scheme will also back the national goal of achieving a 43.6% renewables share in gross final energy consumption by 2030.