OREANDA-NEWS. October 31, 2008. The EBRD is increasing its support for the development of renewable energy in its region with the commitment to purchase a 25 percent stake in OU Raisner, a private company which is developing the 150MW Luganuse Windfarm, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

This is the first large scale wind farm project in the country and will be located approximately 120 km east of Tallinn close to the Baltic Sea shore.

This investment - as well as future renewable energy projects in the region - is being made in cooperation with Iberdrola Renewables, the project’s majority shareholder (65 per cent), and OU Adepte, the local developer and minority shareholder of the project (10 per cent). Iberdrola Renewables is the world leader in wind energy.

The project will contribute to the development of renewable energy in Estonia and aims to substantially increase the wind generation capacity that currently totals approximately 60MW. In common with other European countries, Estonia has pledged to increase renewable energy as a proportion of total electricity consumption up to 5.1 per cent of gross electricity consumption by 2010 from 0.8 per cent in 2006.

Nandita Parshad, EBRD Director Power & Energy, said the project demonstrates the Bank’s commitment to the development of renewable energy sources at a crucial time. “Many promising projects find it difficult to win the necessary financial backing. It is here that the EBRD can play an important with its support to enable a larger scale and faster development of high quality projects”, she added.

Andres Bartrina, Iberdrola Renewables Director in North Europe, said the construction of the wind farm in Estonia is consistent with the company’s commitment to sustainable development and clean technologies in electricity generation. “For Iberdrola Renewables, the Luganuse project is of significant interest, since eastern Europe has a high growth potential”, he added.

Harry Raudvere, member of the management board of OU Adepte, said that he is very happy to see very strong partners joining the Luganuse wind farm project. “The high-level experience and support of our partners will help us to address the problems of Estonia’s domestic energy sector”, he added.

The EBRD is actively promoting the development of renewable energy sources within the context of its Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) which was launched in May 2006. Under this initiative, the EBRD is sharply increasing its investments in energy efficiency, renewables and clean energy projects across its countries of operation.