Renewables

Bulgaria’s NEK launches floating solar, battery, pumped storage projects

Bulgaria NEK floating solar battery pumped storage

Photo: SPG Solar / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode.en

Published

April 18, 2024

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

April 18, 2024

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

National Electricity Co. – NEK is preparing to invest in two floating solar power and two pumped storage hydropower plants and developing battery energy storage proposals. Most of the Bulgarian state-owned power utility’s projects are in the initial phases.

The national electricity system is increasingly facing periods of lots of excess electricity and shortages. It highlights the balancing issue in Bulgaria and the need for energy storage, but the projects are slow, Capital reported. Government-controlled electricity producer NEK is betting on pumped storage hydropower.

The country hosts the largest so-called water battery in the Balkans, the Chaira facility. The pumped storage hydropower plant has been offline for two years after a series of breakdowns and failed repair attempts.

A tender is ongoing for the reconstruction of the fourth unit, out of four in total. The utility valued the project at EUR 27.3 million. Most of its hydropower projects didn’t reach the financing phase.

Engineers are in Asia, Africa

The trouble with the renewal of Chaira is not so much in financing as in finding experts, technicials and engineers, the media outlet pointed out. It added that a significant number of European specialists are in Asia and Africa, handling the boom of such projects.

Another investment, under development for several years, is for the construction of the Yadenitsa dam between Belovo and Yundola. The facility would be part of the Belmeken-Sestrimo-Chaira cascade and lift the pumped storage hydropower plant’s operating capacity.

A report on the project, which is in a very advanced phase, is expected in the autumn. The expected cost is EUR 230 million, the article adds.

Conventional hydroelectric plants with dams are energy storage units, too

NEK is also leaning on hydroelectric plants with dams to store energy as water, Executive Director Martin Georgiev said. In addition, the company is developing a pilot battery storage project at the Vacha hydropower plant, he revealed.

The two planned underground pumped storage hydropower plants at the Dospat and Batak dams will have 800 MW to 1 GW each in capacity, NEK’s chief said. He stressed that the utility would seek EUR 150 million from the REPowerEU scheme for feasibility studies and other activities.

Total storage capacity of the two future facilities, at existing dams, amounts to 3.05 TWh, according to the Bulgarian news website.

NEK expects more than EUR 51 million from NRRP for two floating photovoltaic projects with storage

NEK also has ambitious projects for floating solar power plants at reservoirs Rozov Kladenets and Ovcharitsa with 5 MW in energy storage operating power. The company submitted requests for over EUR 51 million in funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

However, Georgiev stressed that the technology isn’t regulated in Bulgaria.

Of note, German company Profine Energy has proposed to install a floating solar power plant of 500 MW to 800 MW on the Ogosta artificial lake in northwestern Bulgaria. Initially, it considered as much as 1.5 GW.

NEK owns 31 hydroelectric systems, with an overall capacity of 2.74 GW. According to the report, there are delays in maintenance and modernization projects.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

Romania risks power outages as import capacity is nearing its limits

Romania risks power outages as import capacity is nearing its limits

09 December 2024 - Imports account for over 35% of power consumption in Romania during daily peaks, but Minister of Energy Sebastian Burduja isn't pessimistic

montenegro tpp pljevlja sasa mujovic necp

Montenegro drafts NECP: TPP Pljevlja to be shut down by 2041

09 December 2024 - The Ministry of Energy of Montenegro submitted the draft NECP to the Energy Community Secretariat for a review

Bulgaria call standalone energy storage 4 3 times oversubscribed

Bulgaria’s call for standalone energy storage is 4.3 times oversubscribed

09 December 2024 - Developers in Bulgaria applied for 4.3 times more in grants for standalone energy storage than the budget. Funding is uncertain, though.

Bulgarian citizens demand referendum on wind farm construction on agricultural land

Bulgarian citizens demand referendum on wind farms on agricultural land

09 December 2024 - Citizens from four Bulgarian districts protested in Varna, calling for a referendum on constructing solar and wind farms on agricultural land