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2022-03-16

Eurowind Energy finances first wind portfolio in Italy

The portfolio consists of six wind turbines totaling 6MW and construction finished in the spring of 2021. The wind turbines are located in Sicily.

Amuni Srl, a Special Purpose Vehicle belonging to Eurowind Energy, has signed a project finance contract at the end of December 2021 for its first wind portfolio in Italy.

The financed portfolio consists of six pre-owned Vestas V80 wind turbines. The wind turbines were installed in the municipalities of Mazara del Vallo, Marsala, Salemi, Caltavuturo and Sclafani Bagni, in the provinces of Trapani and Palermo, in Sicily.

The six individual projects were developed from scratch by Eurowind Energy with the support of Coolbine, a key partner of the company in Sicily. Five of the projects obtained a feed in tariff under the Italian DL of 04/07/2019, while a sixth project had to start construction prior to the first auction and therefore will sell the power in the market without any incentives. Since four of the projects obtained a feed in tariff in the very first auction and given the different deadline extensions to start operation due to the COVID19 pandemic, these projects are still eligible to be awarded the feed in tariff from the previous Italian DL of 23/06/2016.

While some construction works began in November 2019 for the project without incentives, main construction works only started in August 2020 for all the projects and were gradually finished until April 2021. According to the company, the main reason for the long period until logistic and construction works could finally take off was related to the extreme difficulties in obtaining permits for the transportation of the turbine components in Sicily, for which several roads had to be adjusted.

Despite the fact that all the turbines have been erected since the last spring already, they have been since then waiting for connection to the grid by E-Distribuzione and are expected to be fully commissioned and start operation in the second quarter of 2022.

The six turbines are anticipated to produce a total of 21 GWh per year, providing approximately 7400 households with green electricity, while avoiding the emission of 8400 tons of CO2 per year.

Eurowind Energy’s CEO, Jens Rasmussen, said:

“This has been our first development initiative in Italy. Normally we don’t invest in such small wind projects but we had 30 units of V80 turbines in our inventory and we wanted to deploy them fast. The whole turnout until construction end turned out to be quite longer than we expected, but I’m glad we signed this financing before the year end and we are now close to start producing our first kWh of energy in Italy.”

Pedro Pereira, Managing Director Southern Europe, also commented:

“The development of this portfolio goes back to May 2017. We have faced many challenges throughout the way, from the development stage, especially, the licensing process, to the logistics, construction and, more recently, grid connection. But, with the help of our partners, we have been able to overcome all the obstacles until now and I trust we will soon start operating these turbines”.

Through Amuni Srl, Eurowind Energy owns another five similar projects fully permitted in the Provinces of Trapani and Palermo. Besides this wind portfolio, the company also has a pipeline of large-scale wind and solar projects under development in different regions of Italy.

Eurowind Energy is currently looking for different positions in Italy to reinforce its business development team. Interested candidates may apply directly through the company’s website.

For more information or interviews with senior management please contact the Head of Public Affairs and Media Relations of Eurowind Energy, Joachim Steenstrup. E: [email protected], T: +45 51624815