Integrites has supported Norwegian wind farm developer NBT on its acquisition of shares in a group of project companies for the development of 750 MW in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.
The onshore Zophia wind farm will be developed by NBT together with the Ukraine-based Venture Fund. According to NBT, "at its full capacity, the Zophia project represents a total investment of approximately EUR 1 billion and will consist of 180 wind turbines. The electricity generated from Zophia will be sold to state-owned company Energorynok, Ukraine’s wholesale electricity market operator, and [the wind farm will] produce approximately 3,2 TWh per year. Once completed, it will become Europe’s largest onshore wind farm and will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of up to 400,000 households in the Zaporizhia region." Construction of the first phase is expected to start in six months.
Integrites reports that its role was "to conduct a full scope due diligence of the project companies, support in drafting, negotiating, and closing [the SPA and SHA] with the sellers, [and provide] corporate and tax structuring of the transaction." The firm reports that it and NBT are now "working on evaluating EPC contractors and wind turbine suppliers for these new wind farm projects."
NBT CEO Joar Viken stated: “This is our second utility-scale wind project in Ukraine, three times larger than our first one. The improved investment climate over the last few years, resulting from reforms in the energy sector in particular, gives us confidence to increase our investments in Ukraine. The Zophia project is Europe’s largest onshore wind farm with 750 MW capacity and a total investment of EUR 1 billion. NBT continues to work on increasing its pipeline of wind projects in Ukraine and expect to have 1,500 MW operational by the end of 2022. Being a first-mover in raising money in the international project finance market for utility-scale wind power projects in Ukraine, we are in a good position to replicate our story.”
Integrites Managing Partner Oleksiy Feliv commented: “We are pleased to see that foreign investors such as NBT choose Ukraine to implement their renewable projects. We believe that this project, [like the] Syvash wind farm, is good proof that Ukraine is fit for foreign investments in renewables and that the framework corresponds to the investors’ expectations. After commissioning, these projects will contribute to clean energy and energy independence in Ukraine.”
On January 23 in Davos NBT and Total Eren signed a framework agreement to attract financing for the Syvash Project (involving the construction of a wind farm in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast, which will be the largest in Europe) for a total amount of EUR 260 million as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 11, 2019.
