Macedonia to get first private wind park in Bogoslovec

On the slopes of Bogoslovec, in the eastern part of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the first private wind park in the country will be built. The Macedonian government issued a building permit to a local private investor.

The government approved the construction of the wind power plant Bogoslovec at its last session in 2017. The government’s press service however did not announce further details about the amount of investment, the start of construction and the power of the future energy capacity.

According to the local TV Chanel 5, the wind power plant would consist of 10 wind turbines rated at 3,3 MW each. The project would also include construction of an access road and a substation of 30/110 kV.

The investor is Thor Impex D.O.O.E.L, a small, fairly new company in the electric service industry, from Skopje.

Once built, the new wind park at the location known as one of the windiest in Macedonia, will provide benefits for  Sveti Nikola municipality as well as for the nearby Štip.

Both municipalities are interested to secure this investment given the fact that nine years ago the identical project at this location failed due to lack of money. Back then, the EUR 150 million wind park project was planned to be built closer to Štip, but the investor, Spanish Inval was forced to quit.

The only wind turbines that Macedonia installed so far are located on the hills just east of the major border crossing between Macedonia and Greece. National statistics shows that the country’s only wind farm has contributed with 1.9 percent to the overall electricity production in Macedonia.

Macedonia’s state-owned power utility company ELEM begun the construction of the country’s first wind farm in the country, in May 2013, in an investment worth EUR 55 million.

Since the country still depends on coal power for about 80 percent of its electricity production, and since that process causes serious environmental and health hazards in at least two towns, there are constant appeals for investment in cleaner energy.