March 12, 2012
Bulgaria

Bulgarian government warned over illegal wind projects

Heather O’Brian, Windpower Monthly, www.windpowermonthly.com 12 March 2012

Bulgaria’s government has agreed to form a working group to review wind and other renewable energy projects after the Bulgarian Wind Energy Association (BGWEA) warned numerous projects may be illegal.

The group review affects projects with preliminary and final grid connection agreements. In an open letter to Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov and other government officials March 8, BGWEA said well above 50% of the wind energy projects it had reviewed had failed to meet one or more of the conditions required by law.

In some cases, misleading information was presented that incorrectly led grid operators to believe requirements were satisfied.

BGWEA estimated a thorough review of documentation would result in the cancellation of grid connection guarantees for over 1GW of planned wind farms.

The Bulgarian government is discussing amendments to tighten the rules for renewable energy projects, although BGWEA has asked it put these planned changes on hold until projects are reviewed.

Bulgaria’s total wind capacity rose 15MW to 504MW in the first six months of 2011. The government is targeting wind capacity of 1,256MW by 2020.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/12/bulgarian-government-warned-over-illegal-wind-projects/