The realized production was higher than planned sue to favorable weather conditions and wind speed higher than 4 m/s, which is in the projected operating range of the wind farm. By the end of August, North Macedonia’s sole wind farm Bogdanci delivered over 87 GWh of electricity, which is 37.5 % more than the planned for that period.
Therefore, the wind farm has already achieved over 91 % of the annual production plan, foreseen in the energy balance, four months before the end of the calendar year. The production of wind farm Bogdanci in the first half of 2020, amounts to 68,452 MWh, which is 43.5 % more than the planned 47,712 MWh. This represents a record production of the wind farm in the six month period.
Last month, North Macedonian state-owned power utility ESM has relaunched a tender for the expansion of country’s sole wind farm Bogdanci by additional 13 MW. Initially, the tender was launched in February, but it was postponed on several occasions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The deadline for the expression of interest is set to 3 September. The project is financed through 18 million euros loan provided by German Development Bank KfW, while ESM will cover the remaining sum. The maturity of the loan is 12 years, with a 3 years grace period and interest rate of 1.15 %. Last September, ESM signed two contracts related to the project for the expansion of the Bogdanci wind farm with a consortium of German Fichtner and local company Geing. The first contract relates to consulting services for updating environmental impact assessment including geological and geotechnical testing. The second contract is for consulting services for the design, the preparation of tendering documentation, and the supervision of works. The value of both contracts is around 1.1 million euros. The expansion of the Bogdanci wind farm envisages the construction of 4 additional wind turbines with combined capacity of 13 MW. Currently, the plant’s installed capacity amounts to 36.8 MW and it will be raised to 50 MW.
