Enlight Renewable Energy (“Enlight”, "the Company”, NASDAQ: ENLT, TASE: ENLT.TA), a leading renewable energy platform, announces the initial commencement of commercial operations at the Pupin wind farm (“the Project”) in Serbia with a production capacity of 94 megawatts. The Company expects full COD to be achieved during 1Q25, half a year earlier than initially planned.
Pupin has been constructed using 16 Nordex wind turbines, a German company that is one of the leading producers of turbines globally. The Project is expected to sell 72% of the electricity it generates for the next 15 years to the state-owned utility Elektroprivreda Srbije in accordance with a Market Premium Agreement and Contract for Difference structure priced at EUR 68.88 per MWh and indexed to the Eurostat CPI. (As of July 2024, the indexed price has reached EUR 70.88 per MWh.) Once full capacity is achieved Pupin is expected to provide green power equal to the total annual consumption of approximately 40,000 Serbian households.
The Pupin wind farm is Enlight's second project in Serbia, and is named after Mihajlo Pupin, a well-known physicist and inventor born in Serbia. The Project was built adjacent to the 105 MW Blacksmith (Kovacica) wind farm, Enlight’s first wind farm in the country, which was completed in 2019. Both projects share the same electrical infrastructure at the connection point to Serbia’s national grid. This represents another implementation of the Company’s “Connect and Expand” strategy, which seeks to leverage existing interconnect infrastructure with additional generation and connection capacity, in turn lowering the costs and risks of building new sites.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Erste Group Bank AG provided financing for the Project. Both banks are leading sources of infrastructure finance in Europe, and were also the lenders for the Blacksmith (Kovacica) wind farm as well as other Enlight projects in the past. The deep and continued collaboration with the same financing and development partners further enhanced the successful execution of project Pupin, which was constructed within budget and reached COD earlier than planned.
The Project’s total construction cost is expected to reach $155-1601 million, and is fully (100%) owned by the Company. Revenues in its first full year of operation are expected to be approximately $22-23 million, and EBITDA is expected to be approximately $16-17 million. Enlight has so far provided $52-54 million of long-term equity for the Project, with the equity investment eventually expected to reach approximately 40% of total cost.
Marko Liposcak, General Manager of Enlight Europe, commented, “The commissioning of project Pupin further increases Enlight Europe’s presence in Serbia, a market where we are already successfully operating renewable energy assets. We are very happy that the project benefitted from continued collaboration with New Energy Solutions, EBRD, and ERSTE Group Bank AG, all highly valued partners who supported the development and construction of the Pupin wind farm. Today’s Commencement of Commercial Operations represents an important milestone on Enlight Europe’s growth path, and we look forward to continuing our expansion across Southeastern Europe.”
