AES Solar to build 20.6-MW solar park near Silistra

Nov 17, 2011 - AES Solar Energy, a joint venture of US power firm AES Corp (NYSE:AES) and private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, will start the construction of seven photovoltaic power facilities with a combined installed capacity of 20.6 MW near the town of Silistra, northeastern Bulgaria.

The solar park will be financed with a EUR 48 million (USD 64.8m) loan from Societe Generale Expressbank, the bank said on Tuesday.

"We managed to create a suitable model for providing project financing in various sectors of the economy, which allows us to be useful in the context of the EU strategy for production of energy from renewable sources," Societe Generale Expressbank CEO Maria Rousseva said.

One of AES Solar's power units in Bulgaria, which has a capacity of 3.8 MW, came on stream in January 2011. Its capacity will be boosted by 16.8 MW by May 2012.

In 2009, the company launched a wind power park near the Black Sea town of Kavarna, which cost EUR 270 million. The project, devised jointly with Bulgarian-German firm Geo Power, is expected to reach a capacity of up to 330 MW of energy.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.350)

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