U.S. AES 670 MW Power Plant in Bulgaria To Go on Stream in Mid-'10 - Country Manager

U.S. power group AES plans to bring on stream its 1.2 billion euro ($1.8 billion) 670-megawatt (MW) thermal power plant in Bulgaria in the middle of next year, AES Country Manager for Bulgaria Peter Lithgow said.

The coal-fired plant, AES - 3C Maritsa East 1, will be launched with a one-year delay due to technical difficulties with the implementation of the project, Lithgow told news daily Trud (www.trud.bg) in an interview published on Wednesday.

AES broke ground for the project in June 2006.

The power station is part of the country's largest energy complex Maritsa East, located in the southeastern region of Stara Zagora, which hosts lignite coal mining complex Maritsa East Mines and two more coal-fired power generating units.

AES - 3C Maritsa East 1 is expected to shore up Bulgaria's energy balance after the closure of two pairs of reactors at the country's sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy with a combined capacity of 1,760 MW. Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, is due shut down 1,800 MW of outdated installed capacities in the coming years due to environmental concerns.

In Bulgaria, AES (www.aes.com) also runs a 156 MW wind farm which it launched earlier this year.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!