SOFIA (Bulgaria), September 13 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria’s GP Energy, owned by Greece’s Terna Energy, plans to invest up to 80 million euro ($111.2 million) in building a wind farm with a combined installed capacity of up to 70 megawatts (MW) in northern Bulgaria, a company official said on Thursday.
“The size of the total investment is some 70 million to 80 million euro,” GP Energy project manager Yannis Mantsiaris told SeeNews.
The company plans to install between 30 and 35 turbines with a capacity of two MW each, Mantsiaris said.
Mantsiaris said the construction of the wind farm, to be located near the town of Gulyantsi close to the Danube River, is likely to begin within a year or a year and a half. The project is expected to be completed within two or three years, he said.
The development of alternative energy resources in Bulgaria gained momentum after the early closure of two reactors at the country's sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy on December 31, 2006, under pressure from the European Union.
The country, which joined the EU in January, has to cover 11% of its gross domestic energy consumption by renewable energy sources by 2010, compared to about one percent in 2005, in order to comply with EU directives.
GP Energy has purchased documents for participation in a tender for 100% of the electricity and heating plant of Plovdiv, the second biggest city in Bulgaria. It will compete for the heating plant with eleven other companies, including Czech utility CEZ and the Bulgarian units of Germany's E.ON and Austria's EVN .
Terna Energy specialises in the construction and operation of wind farms, small hydroelectric pants and integrated process units for the overall management and energy utilisation of wastes and biomass.
($ = 0.7191 euro)