Austria-based Leitner Technologies To Develop 12 Mln Euro 9.0 MW Wind Farm in Bulgaria

SOFIA (Bulgaria), November 12 (SeeNews) – Austria-based Leitwind will develop a 12 million euro ($18 million) nine-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Bulgaria, a company official said on Thursday.

The company will bring on stream the wind farm in Kavarna, on the Bulgarian northern Black Sea coast, by the end of September 2010, Leitwind CEO Anton Seeber told a news conference after a signing ceremony on the project's financing. Leitwind is part of Sterzing-based Leitner Technologies.

Agreement for the development of the wind park was signed between the European Investment Bank (EIB), the leasing arm of Italian banking group UniCredit, UniCredit Leasing, and Leitwind.

UniCredit Leasing will finance the project from an 80 million euro credit line extended by the European Investment Bank in October. The wind farm will feature six turbines of 1.5 MW each.

In 2009, Leitwind has already installed a 10.5 MW wind farm near Kavarna. Its seven 80-metre wind turbines Leitwind LTW77 have a maximum output capacity of 1.5 MW each.

The development of renewable energy resources in Bulgaria gained momentum after the country joined the European Union in 2007. Bulgaria must cover 16% of its gross domestic energy consumption with electricity generated from renewables by 2020 to meet the requirements of the bloc.

Currently Bulgaria has 330 MW of installed wind energy capacity and just 3.0 MW of solar energy capacity. Electricity generated from renewable resources, mostly water, currently cover less than 10% of Bulgaria's gross domestic electricity consumption.

($ = 0.67 euro)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!