Early Warning System

Countries

North Macedonia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Specific Location

Bitola

Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Proposed

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Nov 5, 2025

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

POWER PLANTS OF NORTH MACEDONIA JSC

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Energy
Law and Government

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Loan

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 43.35 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 37
Converted using 2025-09-01 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 101.92 million

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Sep 23, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Sep 1, 2025

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the EBRD is considering extending a sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to EUR37 million to JSC Elektrana Severna Makedonija (the "Company" or "ESM") to finance the development of the Bitola 3 PV plant. The project entails the construction of a 134 MWdc solar PV power plant on the site of the exhausted Bitola coal mine in North Macedonia. The total estimated cost of the Project is EUR87 million, which is to be co-financed with a EUR50 million sovereign guaranteed loan from Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau ("KfW").

The Project will deliver 134 MWdc of newly installed renewable energy capacity, generating approximately 175,947 MWh of green electricity annually and resulting in 130,729 tCO2 emission reductions. The Project is 100% GET and it's recognized as a key priority investment under the Just Energy Transition Investment Platform ("JETIP"), a flagship initiative launched in 2023 by Macedonian authorities, with technical support from the EBRD.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Categorised B (ESP 2024) as the impacts associated with the Project were readily identified and mostly site specific.

ESDD has shown that E&S impacts associated to this Project are typical to similar PV solar power plants, mostly during the construction phase, including, but not limited to water use; short term impacts from construction and traffic increase; health and safety during construction and operation; labour issues and community engagement.

The Project does not involve physical displacement; however, will have some livelihood impacts on grazing lands for some animal herders and other private landowners along the route of underground transmission lands. The impacts are partial and temporary.

Risks to the health and safety of surrounding communities are limited and mostly related to the construction phase and can be avoided or mitigated through ESHS practices, and Bio-diversity impacts were assessed during ESDD which are construction related temporary impacts.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

A sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to EUR37 million. The total estimated cost of the Project is EUR87 million, which is to be co-financed with a EUR50 million sovereign guaranteed loan from Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau ("KfW").

Private Actors Description

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

POWER PLANTS OF NORTH MACEDONIA JSC - ESM is the public electricity generation utility, fully owned by the Government of North Macedonia. The company provides approximately 90% of the entire domestic electricity production.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	JSC Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (JSC Power Plants of North Macedonia)	Client	-

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION

Ivan Stojanovski
ivan.stojanovski@elem.com.mk
+389 70 582 521
+389 2 3149 160
https://www.esm.com.mk/
11 Oktomvri 9,1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html