Bulgaria's NEK gets extension on 26 mln euro grant for hydro facility upgrades

The grant extension to end-2023 will enable NEK to finalise the repair and overhaul of the Belmeken–Sestrimo–Chaira pumped-storage hydro power complex, the company said in a statement on Friday.

NEK has a grant of 26 million euro ($27.45 million) for the project, a senior company executive told SeeNews in an emailed statement.

Under the contract for the rehabilitation of the Belmeken-Sestrimo-Momina Klisura cascade, NEK has completed the overhaul of seven out of nine hydro units. The cascade is fully ready for operations during winter, guaranteeing the continuity of electricity supply in the country. Inspections are being carried at Chaira to establish the cause of a recent accident at one of the four hydro units and to conduct in-depth analyses of another two units, NEK explained.

The KIDSF finances or co-finances projects related to the decommissioning of four units of Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy, which were closed down to address the nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to the country's accession to the bloc in 2007.

NEK started work on rehabilitating the Chaira and Belmeken pumped-storage hydro power plants (HPPs) in 2019, for a total budget of 37 million euro. The fund is providing 70% of the amount, with the balance of 30% coming from NEK.

The Belmeken plan has 375 MW generating capacity while Chaira HPP, which is the biggest pump-storage hydro power plant in Southeast Europe according to NEK, has an installed capacity of 864 MW in generating mode and 792 MW in pumping mode.

The year-to-date output of Bulgaria's hydro power plants dropped by 23.73% to 3,578 GWh to December 4, according to ESO's latest weekly report.

($ = 0.946877 euro)