German Enertrag plans 660 MW wind farms in Bulgaria
Germany’s Enertrag plans to invest one billion euros ($1.32 billion) to build three wind energy parks in Bulgaria, its Bulgarian unit said on Monday.
The new wind farms, with a planned total capacity of 660 megawatts (MW), will be set up near the town of Dobrich, some 510 km east of Sofia and near the Black Sea coast, Denitsa Nozharova, manager of Enertrag Balkan, told Reuters.
‘The three farms are expected to become fully operational by 2017,’ Nozharova said.
The German wind farm developer plans to provide 30 percent of the necessary funding, and seek bank loans for the remaining amount. It is also considering setting up a fund and attracting more investors for the projects, Nozharova said.
Enertrag has already teamed up with Austrian power utility EVN to build a 50 MW wind farm at Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast for an estimated 100 million euros, which should begin electricity production at the end of 2009. It has 30 percent in the venture.
The company is negotiating to take over an 18 MW wind park in western Bulgaria and is planning to boost its capacity to 30 MW.
Wind park projects in Bulgaria have recently mushroomed as investors take advantage of government subsidies for renewable energy, aimed at boosting its share to meet European Union targets.
The European Union newcomer’s installed onshore wind power capacity totalled 158 MW at the end of 2008. Bulgaria gets about 43 percent of its power from coal and 40 percent from nuclear energy.
Reuters
30 March 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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