Bulgaria eyes role as European wind energy powerhouse

Bulgaria is fast becoming a somewhat unlikely frontrunner in the European wind energy industry, according to experts who predict the Eastern European country will see a tenfold increase in wind energy capacity over the next decade.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) this week released new projections arguing that Bulgaria's capacity will increase from its current 330MW to over 3,000MW by 2020, providing 13.5 per cent of Bulgaria's electricity.

Speaking at a workshop in Bulgaria co-hosted with the Bulgarian Association of Producers of Ecological Energy (APEE), EWEA chief executive Christian Kjaer said the country was poised to become one of the dominant players in the fast-expanding European wind energy market.

"With installed capacity increasing more than fivefold in less than two years, Bulgaria is one of the fastest-growing markets for wind energy in the world," he observed. "Moreover, it has another 8,000MW of wind projects in the pipeline. If current planning and grid access barriers are streamlined, Bulgaria will soon be one of Europe's wind energy frontrunners, reaping the economic benefits in the form of new jobs, reduced fuel import dependency and technology development."

The country's wind energy industry is also expecting a further boost next year with the release of the government's renewable energy action plan, which will set out how it plans to meet its binding EU target to generate 16 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Kostadinka Todorova, director for energy efficiency and environmental protection at the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy, said that the government was on track to release the plan, and was also working on a new renewable energy law, which he added would help to attract further investment to the country.

Bulgaria's ample wind energy resources mean it could even exceed its EU target, according to APEE president Velizar Kiriakov, who predicted that such a scenario would allow the country to generate revenues of between €7.5bn (£6.68) and €10bn by selling excess Bulgarian renewable energy production to Member States struggling to meet their targets.

The news comes as Spain's wind energy industry this week celebrated a significant milestone, reporting that for the first time it had provided more than half the country's electricity over last weekend.

High winds meant that the country's wind farms provided as much energy as 11 nuclear power plants, and at one stage on Sunday morning wind energy accounted for 53 per cent of all electricity supplies.

The increased output meant that electricity supply exceeded demand, allowing the country to export some of the renewable power and use some of it to pump water at hydro-electric power plants, effectively storing the clean energy for use later.

José Donoso, head of the Spanish Wind Energy Association, said that the performance provided evidence that existing grids can cope with high levels of wind energy, noting that a few years ago some sceptics had argued the grid could only cope with 14 per cent of energy coming from wind turbines.

"We think that we can keep growing and go from the present 17GW to reach 40GW in 2020," he told El País newspaper.