Bulgaria mulls freezing renewable energy projects
Bulgaria may impose a six-month moratorium on renewable energy projects that are in the initial phase of their development, Environment Minister Nona Karadjova said.
“We have had problems with the large number of wind power generators and solar power installations, not only because of the practice for them to be installed in protected areas, but also because of the large number of requests for expropriation of agricultural land,” Karadjova said.
The reason for the moratorium were breaches of regulations concerning the Natura 2000 protected areas and the infringement procedures against Bulgaria by the European Commission for the construction of wind farms near Cape Kaliakra without the necessary environmental assessments, she said.
The Agriculture Ministry had also recorded an increase in the number of requests for changing the allocation of land for construction of wind and solar parks.
The moratorium on the projects will last until the green energy development plan by 2020 is drafted. It is expected to be approved by the European Commission by mid-2010. The plan will contain an evaluation of the capacity for construction of renewable energy installations in different regions, the development of the power grids of NEK and the electricity distribution companies, as well as environmental assessments.
by Dnevnik.bg
The Sofia Echo
10 December 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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