Project financing still possible

Despite the banking crisis, project finance deals are still being done in the Turkish wind power market. Tolga Bilgin of Bilgin Energy Investment Holdings, one of Turkey's major owner-operators, reports he has negotiated financing for a 90 MW wind farm at Soma, north-east of Izmir, and expects to complete the deal in the next few months. Just before the crisis started, he also closed a 12-year project finance deal for a 90 MW project being built at nearby Bergama. The credit line of EUR 110 million is being provided by Turkey's Yapi Kredi bank and Germany's Commerzbank. The first phase of 18 Nordex 2.5 MW turbines is slated for commissioning late next year, followed by the remainder in 2010.