Swiss Energy Group Atel To Launch 50 MW Wind Park in Bulgaria by End-2010

Swiss energy group Atel said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of 100% of Bulgarian wind farm developer Vetrocom for an undisclosed price and plans to put in operation a 50 megawatt (MW) wind park in the country by end-2010.

“The deal is finalised. The project is going according to schedule. We plan to put the facility in operation by end-2010,” project manager Margarita Alexieva told SeeNews from Switzerland.

The company is interested in expanding its operations in the alternative energy sector in the country and all options are open, she added, but declined to elaborate.

Vetrocom has plans to build a wind farm comprising 20 wind turbines with a capacity of 2.5 MW each near Kazanlak, a town in central Bulgaria some 200 kilometres east of the capital Sofia. The wind farm is designed to have an average gross annual production volume of 167 gigawatthours, Atel said earlier in a statement.

With the acquisition, Atel is targeting to increase the share of renewable generation in its portfolio, supported by European Union legislation which aims to achieve a minimum share of renewable energy production in the bloc of 11% by 2010 and 20% by 2020.

At present, the share of renewable energy produced in Bulgaria is around 5.0% and the estimated potential for wind farms in Bulgaria is roughly 2,200 MW in capacity, according to Atel estimates.

Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.

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