PNE Wind and Dobrudzha Joint Venture to Develop Bulgarian Windfarm

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--PNE Wind AG (FRA:PNE3) (Cuxhaven, Germany), a leading renewable energy company engaged in the development and implementation of onshore and offshore windfarm projects, announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Dobrudzha OOD (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria) to set up a 150-megawatt (MW) windfarm in the Dobrudzha region in northeastern Bulgaria.

PNE Wind, through PNE Ausland GmbH, will own a 51% stake in the joint venture company Windpark Dobrudzha OOD, while Dobrudzha will hold the remaining 49%. According to the agreement, PNE Wind will be responsible for the analysis, selection and procurement of wind turbines, funding of the project, and technical and commercial management when the windfarm is operational.

A detailed environmental analysis is being carried out, after which the project is expected to receive approval. Storis Engineering Limited (Stara Zagora), a renewable energy company with extensive experience in Bulgaria's wind energy market, has developed the project. Storis Engineering has 20 meteorological tower installations across Bulgaria, including five in the Dobrudzha region. The towers are between 40 and 80 metres high, and record and transmit environmental information.

The Dobrudzha plateau, known for its windmills, is situated between the Black Sea and the lower Danube River. The plateau, which is near the Romanian border, has an average altitude of 200 to 300 meters. The region is quite windy and is classified as a Zone B region for wind energy. With a mean long-term wind speed of 3 meters per second, the region's wind speed is about two times higher than the average wind speed experienced by the rest of Bulgaria.

The Dobrudzha windfarm project is part of PNE Wind's strategy to expand globally and enhance its onshore project capacity to 10,000 MW in three years. The company is not new to the Bulgarian wind energy market and is currently implementing 10 windfarm projects, amounting to nearly 410 MW in combined rated output, in collaboration with local partners. The windfarms will be spread over 2,350 acres of land, attracting a total investment of $851 million. PNE Wind holds a majority share in each joint venture company.

One such company is PNE WIND Bulgaria OOD (Nessebar, Bulgaria), a joint venture between German windfarm developer Plambeck Neue Energien AG (Cuxhaven, Germany) and PNE Wind, in which the latter has an 80% stake. PNE WIND Bulgaria intends to set up windfarms in Bulgaria with a maximum output of 250 MW.

PNE Wind sees a huge potential for the renewable energy market in Bulgaria. In order to comply with European Union emission norms, the country needs to generate 16% of its total energy from renewable energy sources by 2020, compared to 11% currently. Bulgaria has a total installed wind power generating capacity of 330 MW.

PNE Wind has installed 94 windfarms worldwide, accounting for 541 wind energy systems and a total rated output of 782 MW.

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