Macedonia to Build First Wind Farm

Macedonian power utility ELEM said on Tuesday it had signed a deal with a consortium of Greek builder Terna and German engineering firm Siemens to build the Balkan country's first wind farm.
The deal includes procurement and installation of wind turbines and construction of accompanying infrastructure, such as power stations and power lines to connect the future farm to the grid, ELEM said in a statement.
The total value of the deal for the 37 MW wind plant amounts to 55 million euros ($72.13 million), of which 33 million would be provided by Germany's state-owned KfW Bank and the remainder by ELEM, it added.
ELEM operates 1,329 MW of power-generating capacity, of which 60 percent is coal-fired and 40 percent hydro power. The new wind farm would add 100 GWh of electricity generation per year.
In 2011 the utility produced 6,043 GWh of electricity, nearly 7 percent down from a year earlier due to a prolonged drought in the Balkans that has pushed water levels to record lows.