German firm to invest $1.5 billion to build four wind farms in Bosnia

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A German company has agreed to build two wind farms in western Bosnia worth 300 million euros ($299.7 million), the first part of a 1.5 billion euro project, the German embassy said on Friday.

The deal to build farms in the towns of Glamoc and Bosansko Grahovo in Bosnia's autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation was signed earlier this week by Ivan Vukadin, prime minister of the Federation's Canton 10, and Andreas Chollet, development manager of German company wpd GmbH.

The two farms are the first part of a larger project that will include the construction of two more wind farms in the nearby town of Livno - a wind park that would generate 1,000 megawatt (MW) of electricity, the statement said.

Western Bosnia is characterised by high plateaux, making it favourable for generating power from wind.

A consortium of Chinese companies agreed last year to build an 84 megawatt (MW) wind farm at a cost of about 100 million euros in the area, near the town Tomislavgrad, which will be Bosnia's largest with an annual output of 236.6 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity.

Bosnia, which produces nearly all its power from coal and hydro but aims to increase output from renewables, is the largest exporter of electricity in the Western Balkans, with energy production accounting for 20% of its GDP.

($1 = 1.0008 euros)

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)