BayWa r.e. announced the sale of its 10.25 MW Croatian wind farm Orjak to Kelag, one of Austria’s leading energy services providers.
The plant was developed by BayWa r.e.’s subsidiary ECOwind and is located in the municipality of Omis, about 25 km southeast of Split. It consists of five 2.05 MW turbines with a hub height of 80 m.
“The successful completion and sale of this wind farm is a huge step for us,” explains Johann Janker, Managing Director of ECOwind. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve put a lot of effort into this project and we overcame a number of challenges in the process, such as the rough terrain in the area and building trust with the local community.”
The Orjak wind farm was commissioned in December 2018 and benefits from a long-term feed-in tariff. It produces over 25,000 MWh per year. This is enough power to meet the average annual consumption of approximately 7,000 households in Croatia.
“Orjak was our first project in Croatia and Southeast Europe. This region is a key future market for us with huge potential in its renewable energy sector. From our Zagreb office we are already driving new wind and solar projects in the region,” said Lorenzo Palombi, Director of Wind Projects EMEA at BayWa r.e.
Bernd Neuner, Managing Director of KI-Kelag International GmbH, added: “We are delighted to have acquired this fully equipped wind farm and look forward to working with BayWa r.e. The excellent conditions and long-term contracts of the plant will help us to make a lasting contribution to the energy transition in Croatia and Europe, while at the same time providing our customers with pure green energy.”
Croatia is opening new opportunities for the renewable energy market. After the feed-in tariffs stimulated a total increase of over 1 GW of renewable energy assets until 2019, Croatia is now promoting a premium feed-in tariff to incentivize the growth of renewable power capacity to 1.9 GW by 2030.
