Bulgaria's St. Nikola wind farm boosts 9-mo output by 7% y/y

In September alone, total power generated at the 156 MW onshore wind park, Bulgaria's largest, was 23,495 MWh or 13% more than in August, AES Bulgaria, a unit of U.S.-based energy conglomerate AES Corporation, said in an e-mailed statement.

St. Nikola wind farm, located near the town of Kavarna on the Black Sea coast, consists of 52 turbines of 3 MW capacity each and has been operational for twelve years. The facility accounts for about 20% of total installed wind generation capacity in Bulgaria, which has no offshore wind farms.

The wind park was built in 2009 for a total investment of 540 million levs ($273.1 million/276.1 million euro).

In December 2021, AES Bulgaria secured a 64 million euro credit facility, consisting of a loan of 32 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and another loan of the same amount from two unnamed commercial banks, AES Bulgaria said. The package includes refinancing of the remaining exposure on a previous loan and a new commitment of 16 million euro.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)