The project has also secured financing from the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and Swedfund International

EBRD, Scatec Solar

Image: EBRD to support Scatec Solar in solar plant construction. Photo: Courtesy of the Scatec Solar.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to provide €19.7m (£17.7m) loan to the Norwegian solar developer Scatec Solar to support the construction of a 55.4MW solar plant in Ukraine.

The solar plant will be located in Cherkasy region. Recently, Scate Solar closed financing for the project to the tune of €53m (£47.6m), out of which EBRD’s share is €19.7m.

The company is the lead equity investor in the project and will also be the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) provider. Besides, it will offer operation and maintenance along with asset management services to the power plant, once it is operational.

The project has also secured financing from the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and Swedfund International. Overall,  the financing provided by EBRD, NEFCO and Swedfund amounts to €37m (£33.2m), covering up to 70% of the total project costs.

Expected to be operational in the first half of next year, the solar project could help in reducing CO2 emissions by more than 36,000 tonnes per year, while generating enough clean energy to power up to 28,000 Ukrainian households.

The project will be realised under the country’s 10-year Feed-in-Tariff scheme and is expected to deliver about 65GWh annually.

Scatec Solar is building its third project in Ukraine

The current solar project is the third for Scatec Solar in Ukraine after the 47MW project Mykolaiv and 30MW plant in Kamianka and they were also supported by EBRD.

The present solar project is also the fifth investment under the EBRD €250m Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility III since its approval in last July. The two previous programmes co-financed by the EBRD and the Clean Technology Fund delivered 14 renewable energy projects in Ukraine with an installed capacity of 158MW.

Last month, Scatec Solar began construction of the 148MW Progressovka solar project in Ukraine. The project, as per the company, will be realised in collaboration with PowerChina Guizhou Engineering, which will provide construction financing and EPC services for the project.