Construction work has got underway on a wind farm inland from the northern Adriatic town of Senj in Croatia.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was on hand for the official project launch, accompanied by Norinco International CEO Wang Yitong. He said that the project represented the opening of a new chapter in relations between China and Croatia, and delivered a strong message in terms of investment.

The 156MW wind farm will comprise thirty-nine 4MW turbines spread over 45 square kilometres, and is being built by Chinese company Norinco International. Construction should be completed in two years. The wind farm will then be operated by the concessionaires for 23 years.

Energia Projekt was set up to develop the project in 2011, and after some delays eventually brought in the Chinese partner to move it forward. Late last year, Norinco International purchased a 76% stake in Energija Projekt company for 32 million euro. Total project costs are estimated at around 160 million euro.

In his speech, Prime Minister Plenkovic said that Croatia wanted to boost its cooperation with China, especially in infrastructure development. He said that Chinese participation in the upgrade of railway infrastructure, in which Croatia plans to invest 3 billion euro over the next 12 years, would be of great succour to the Croatian economy.

Plenkovic added that Croatian ports could also be an area of interest for Chinese companies. One possible project could be a rail link between the port of Rijeka and capital city Zagreb.