SOFIA (Bulgaria), March 1 (SeeNews) – Austria’s EVN said the project for the construction of hydro power cascade Gorna Arda in southern Bulgaria was frozen.
"Due to changes in the energy policy environment in Bulgaria the Gorna Arda hydro power plant project was put on hold because its realisation is not possible under the current circumstances," EVN said in its financial report for the first quarter of 2016/17 business year (1 October – 31 December 2016) released on Tuesday. "Impairment losses of 28.9 million euro were therefore recognised during the reporting period".
You can download the 2024 Renewable energy in Southeast Europe report here
The shareholder agreement between EVN AG and Bulgaria's state-owned power utility NEK for establishing a company for the construction of the hydro power cascade was signed in July 2010, EVN recalled in a separate statement on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, Vienna-listed EVN AG owns 70% of the project and NEK holds the remaining 30%.
The project initially envisaged the construction of three hydro power plants on the upper stream of the Arda river with a total installed capacity of 174.2 megawatts and an average annual output of 4,400 gigawatt hours, as well as three dams.