N-Vision to build wind farm in Bulgaria

SOFIA, BULGARIA - Germany's privately held N-Vision Energy plans to invest up to 140 million euros (US$210.5 million) to build a 100 megawatt wind energy park in Bulgaria, its managing director said.

The new wind farm will be built near the town of Kyustendil, some 68 km south of capital of Sofia, and is expected to become operational by the end of 2011, Sebastian Noethlichs, managing director of N-Vision Energy, said.

Up to 75 percent of the park will be debt-financed, Noethlichs said, adding the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and export credit agencies are expected to take part in the funding of the project.

Wind park projects in Bulgaria have mushroomed over the last couple of years as investors take advantage of incentives such as preferential prices which Sofia offers for power produced from renewable energy sources.

The Balkan country plans to increase the share of renewable energy to 16 percent by 2020 as part of European Union efforts to combat climate change.

The new project will be the second largest in Bulgaria after the 156 MW park built by AES Corp. near the town of Kavarna on the northern Black Sea coast, which was officially connected to the national grid earlier this month.