FANTANELE WINDFARM

The project concerns the deployment of a large onshore wind farm with a total installed capacity of ~350MW located near the Black Sea coast line in the county of Constanta. The wind farm will be installed at two separate locations East and West of the village of Fantanele. Once operational the wind farm will supply electricity to the national transmission grid and thus significantly contribute to achieve national targets of electricity generation from renewable energy sources.

The project would constitute the first large-scale wind farm in Romania, contributing substantially to achieving the national targets of electricity generated from renewable energy sources by 2020. It will also contribute to environmental objectives by indirectly contributing to the reduction in air pollution emissions and greenhouse gases from fossil-fuelled power generators.

The project falls under Annex II of the EIA Directive 85/337/EC (as amended) and has been screened by the national competent authorities to require a full EIA including public consultation. Environmental studies were carried out including comprehensive studies of the impacts on flora, fauna and habitat. Based on the studies the competent authority has granted the environmental authorization, requesting to implement an environmental monitoring plan to observe potential impacts caused by the project.

The promoter is a public undertaking in the sense of the Utilities Directive 2004/17/EU and would have to apply public procurement procedures accordingly. However, as the project was fully developed by a private entity and supply/works contracts were awarded prior to the project acquisition by the promoter, publication of contract notices were not required. Awarding procedures of the contracts will however be reviewed during appraisal to ensure compliance with the Bank’s procurement principles.