The
construction of the first wind farm of Electric Power Industry of Serbia has
started with the kick-off meeting with the representatives of the company
Siemens Gamesa that will deliver and install 73 MW wind turbines in Kostolac.
- I
believe that the wind farm in Kostolac will be commissioned in 26 months at the
latest. Together with the partners, EPS will do everything to shorten this
deadline as much as possible, without jeopardizing the quality of works, but to
have the wind farm in the ownership of EPS connected to the grid as soon as
possible which would be satisfying for both parties. I believe in what we are
doing and this is the basis for the project success – said Mr. Miroslav Tomašević,
PE EPS Acting Director at the kick-off meeting.
Mr.
Tomašević pointed out that EPS is stable and that it will continue to be a
backbone of Serbian economy and industry development.
The
first EPS’s wind farm with 20 turbines with the total of 73 MW will be spreading
over Drmno, Petka, Ćirikovac and Klenovnik locations, on the mined out open
cast mines and landfills of Kostolac TPPs-OCMs branch. Total project value
amounts to around EUR 114 million, out of which EUR 80 million is financed from
a loan by the German Development Bank KfW.
Mr.
Stjepan Čerkez, the president of the management board at Siemens Gamesa Renewable
Energy thanked for the trust and opportunity to implement the EPS’s project.
- We
took this task very seriously and we engaged in the team the experts who have
already took part in the projects of similar complexity. We took the deadlines
seriously and we are starting the implementation – said Mr. Čerkez.
According
to the earlier estimates, Kostolac Wind Farm will generate annually around 115
kWh of electricity, which is enough to supply around 30,000 households.
Consortium
led by New Energy Solutions will supervise the project and Mr. Miloš Colić, the
company manager pointed out that so far, they have successfully implemented 80
percent of construction projects out of the total of 400 MW wind farms in
Serbia.
Representatives
of the company SGS in charge of the quality control and a number of experts
involved in the project implementation were present at the kick-off
meeting.