EIB, EBRD, Swedbank and NIB sign EUR 318m project-financing package for Ignitis Group's Kelmė wind farm

Mechanism

This is a multilateral-development-bank project-financing package for Lithuania's largest onshore wind farm. Ignitis Grupė, Lithuania's state-controlled (per the government's majority shareholding) energy utility, closed a EUR 318 million non-recourse debt package on 22 October 2025 to finance the 314 MW Kelmė wind farm (Phase 1 ~105 MW, Phase 2 ~195 MW) in western Lithuania. The EIB supplied the largest single tranche (EUR 100m), with EBRD, Swedbank and NIB filling out the rest of the syndicate. GTA's state-act record (95036) describes the EIB's total proposed commitment to the project as EUR 320 million, which is consistent with a subsequent June 2026 announcement of additional EIB financing bringing the Bank's cumulative exposure toward that figure (see amendments).

Below-market-rate development-bank financing of this kind functions as an implicit state subsidy to domestic renewable-generation capex, the same pattern already tracked in the register for Finnish (TVO/Olkiluoto), German (WEMAG), Belgian (ORES) and Greek (IPTO) energy-infrastructure operators. Severity is set low (2): this is routine EU multilateral co-financing of domestic renewable-energy infrastructure that supports REPowerEU diversification away from Russian fossil fuels, not a trade-restrictive or discriminatory measure and not targeted at a foreign competitor or strategic-material chokepoint.

Downstream implications

• Adds EUR 100m of below-market EIB financing (EUR 318m package total) to

the Baltic states' largest wind farm, already operational since June 2025 and supplying ~314 MW / power for ~250,000 households.

• Consistent with the EU-wide pattern of channelling EIB/EBRD/NIB

balance-sheet capacity into member-state renewable-generation buildout as implicit industrial subsidy, reinforcing Lithuania's push (wind already ~27% of national electricity) toward REPowerEU fossil-import diversification.

• Follow-on EIB financing in mid-2026 suggests the Bank's total commitment

to this single project is still growing past the initial EUR 100m tranche.

Open questions

• Exact disbursement schedule and drawdown conditions across the four

lenders were not disclosed in the primary source.

• The precise amount of the additional EIB financing agreement signed in

June 2026 (source only confirms an agreement was signed, not the sum) was not available at filing time.