Island Renewable Energy, a Dublin- based wind and solar asset developer, is exploring options to build a wind park in Bulgaria, said Nikolay Nikolov, the executive director for southeast Europe.
The company's Bulgarian unit signed an agreement with the Suhindol municipality in northern Bulgaria to do wind measurements and a feasibility study, Nikolov said today in a telephone interview. He declined to confirm an announcement by Suhindol's mayor, Plamen Chernev, reported by Dnesbg.com news website on May 13, saying the project involves a 90-megawatt wind farm valued at 130 million euros ($185 million).
"If we decide to go ahead with the project, construction may start in some three years," Nikolov said. The decision also hinges on whether the government will change an "unfavorable" Renewable Energy Sources law, Nikolov said.
The law, passed on April 21, requires wind farms and solar parks to set their price for feeding power to the grid only after construction is completed, making it harder to calculate the break-even point during planning stages.
