GE Renewable Energy has announced that it will supply 13 wind turbines to the 68.9 MW E energija Telšiai onshore wind farm in Lithuania. As part of the partnership, GE will also provide a 25-year full services agreement for the wind project. The said wind farm will be located approximately 250 km north west of capital Vilnius in Lithuania. The wind energy company, E energija, has signed a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Eesti Energia AS, Estonian state-owned utility company for purchasing all the green energy produced by the future wind farm. This represents one of the largest bilateral PPA in the renewables sector in Baltic region to date.
The wind project would be set up with GE’s largest onshore wind turbine in the field, the 5.3 MW Cypress. The initial civil and electrical work for the project already commenced in July 2020, and the first delivery of GE turbine is expected in April 2021. The wind project is expected to reach commercial operations by the end of 2021. When fully commissioned, this project will generate about 235 GWh of wind power per year, enough to power the equivalent of around 78,300 homes in Lithuania. Being the first significant subsidy free development in the Baltic states, the project will play an important role in supporting the Lithuania’s target to reach 45 per cent of renewable power in its electricity mix by 2030.
Co-sponsors of the project, GE Capital’s Energy Financial Services and E energija reached financial close recently. SEB Bank, part of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, a Swedish financial group, and E Energija signed a long-term credit contract of Euro 45 million for this project.