During first half of the year AES Bulgaria said that its coal-fired power plant AES Galabovo and Saint Nikola wind farm have produced a total of 1,680 GWh of electricity, which covered about 9 % of Bulgaria’s electricity consumption for the period. The statement from the company said that the 690 MW thermal power plant produced over 1,500 GWh of electricity in the first six months of the year (which is 18 % more compared to the same period in 2020), while the 156 MW wind farm produced 172 GWh, representing about a quarter of Bulgaria’s wind generation in the first half of the year. In 1999, US AES Corporation purchased the majority stake in Bulgaria’s Maritsa East 1 power plant, subsequently renamed AES Galabovo in 2009. AES completed the full acquisition of the thermal power plant from Ireland’s Consolidated Continental Commerce Limited in 2005. Saint Nikola wind park is located near the town of Kavarna on the Black Sea coast. It was built in 2009 and put into operation a year later. It has 52 wind turbines with power output of 3 MW each. The total investment in the project was 270 million euros, of which 198 million euros was provided by a bank consortium including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and UniCredit Bank.
