Kavarna Wind Farm

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In December 2008, EVN Enertrag Kavarna OOE, a joint venture between EVN [Austria] (70%) and wind specialists Enertrag [Germany] (30%) announced that they had taken over and would complete a wind project planned by Universum Energy [Bulgaria], close to Bulgarevo village in the northeast Bulgarian municipality of Kaliakra. EVN Enertrag Kavarna was to develop the project in two stages. The first, 50MW, stage to be completed and connected to the grid at a cost of around EUR95 million (US$132.05 million) involved 25, 2-MW Vestas V90 turbines, with average annual production of 140 GWh. A 30 MW second stage is planned for a future date. In June 2009, it was reported that all necessary permits had been acquired and that construction was advancing. There were no reports on how the project was financed; therefore the construction start date was used as a proxy for the financial closure date. The right to construct the wind farm was won by Universum Energy in two tenders held by the local municipality in early 2004, while the project received approval from the Varna Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Waters (RIOSV Varna) in July 2005. Implementation was delayed by environmental groups' appeals against the RIOSV Varna decision at various levels of the local judicial system, with their final appeal rejected in 2008. The wind farm was due to enter commercial operation in the second quarter of 2010.