The JV is aimed to accelerate Suzlon’s growth into the Bulgarian wind energy market combining Volkswind’s local knowledge and development experience with Suzlon’s expertise in developing utility scale projects. The JV will develop projects using Suzlon wind turbines.
Erik Pedersen, CEO of Suzlon, said: “This marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with Volkswind Bulgaria, and is a very important step in our strategy to expand our project development activities into new regions.
“Suzlon already has a 13MW project under construction in Bulgaria for a leading industrial client, and I believe that our new relationship with Volkswind will help us grow Bulgaria’s wind industry even further.”
Malte Huchzermeier, director of Volkswind Bulgaria, said: “Suzlon’s existing infrastructure and experience from already erected turbines in Bulgaria will be beneficial for the development process. We are looking forward to building successful projects with Suzlon.”
Bulgaria is expected to achieve 500MW of wind energy capacity by the end of 2010, with a target of more than 3,000MW by 2020. The market is supported by competitive feed-in tariffs of approximately EUR0.096 for the first 2250 hours/year and EUR0.088kW/h for the following hours-guaranteed for 15 years.
