China State Grid and Norwegian developer NBT said they’ll build a 750MW wind farm in Ukraine at a cost of €1bn ($1.1bn), in what the former hailed as a landmark of energy cooperation between China and Norway.
China Power Technology Equipment, unit of State Grid, and NBT said the Zofia project in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine will be fully developed by the end of 2021 as one of China’s ‘Belt and Road’projects.
NBT and State Grid have signed a“project pre-financing”agreement with Chinese banks, said a statement.
The statement says Zofia will be the largest onshore project in Europe, although the Fosen and Markbygden complexes in Norway and Sweden will be bigger by capacity.
NBT is already working with Chinese group PowerChina on the 250MW Syvash wind farm that will be Ukraine’s largest before Zofia is built. German OEM Nordex was earlier this year awarded a contract to supply turbines to Syvash’s two phases.
Chinese officials at a signing ceremony in Beijing said wind had emerged as “an important area for bilateral cooperation between Norway and China. Norwegian energy companies are willing to work with Chinese energy companies to carry out more cooperation in third countries”.
In September Norwegian energy giant Equinor and China Power International Holding (CPIH) signed a landmark agreement to cooperate for offshore wind projects off China and Europe.
