National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Bulgarian wind assoc goes to court over FIT cut

The Bulgarian wind energy association (BGWEA) has gone to court to challenge energy regulator SEWRC’s recent decision to slash the feed-in tariff (FIT) for wind energy production by 22%.

BGWEA said the SEWRC decision, which affects purchase prices for wind power in the year running from July 1, 2012, was “just too much” and had no basis in current market realities.

BGWEA executive director Sebastian Noethlichs said its legal appeal was aimed at attaining better investment conditions in the country for wind, which had already suffered from a number of restrictive legislative measures over the last year.

Industry players had initially been bracing for a maximum tariff cut of 5% and widely expect the SEWRC decision will put a brake on any major new wind projects.

Even Chinese green energy investors have cautioned they could abandon Bulgaria unless the government reconsiders its drastic cuts for wind and solar PV projects.

Yet BGWEA notes that the country has significant wind potential. It points to wind potential of 3GW by 2020, up from around 554MW currently and Bulgaria’s official 2020 target of 1.25GW.