180 MW PV Project Planned In Bulgaria

• Devnya municipality in Bulgaria has granted preliminary consent for a 180 MW solar power project
• Local company 4B Solar plans to invest of over €100 million ($119 million)
• Entire project planned to be located in three municipal properties in Karovcha and one in Tsarsko
• 4B Solar wants to develop the project in three stages - 5 MW by end of 2018, 65 MW by December 2020 and 110 MW by the end of 2022

A 180 MW solar PV plant is being planned to come up in the town of Devnya in Bulgaria by local developer 4B Solar Ltd.

Devnya is located in the northeastern region of the Eastern European Union nation. Devnya Municipality has given its preliminary consent to develop a detailed plan to construct the plant.

The entire 180 MW capacity should be developed on four municipal properties, three of which are located in the Karovcha locality, and one in in Tsarsko. Total investment on developing this capacity is more than €100 million ($119 million), which would be around 55 euro cent/W, a very ambitious target. Local treasury will receive around €2 million once the building permit is granted.  

As per a contract signed between the municipality represented by Mayor Svilen Khitov and 4B Solar, the developer will have to complete the entire project in three stages by the end of 2022. By the end of 2018, 4B Solar is supposed to build a 110KV/20 KV substation and a capacity of 5 MW. By December 2020, total capacity is expected to reach 65 MW, while the final 110 MW are scheduled to be finished by the end of 2022.  

It remains to be seen if this power plant will actually be built – at least in the last few years there was basically no new solar capacity added in Bulgaria. And unlike several other EU countries, Bulgaria has already meet its 2020 renewables target, except for the transport sector. As per the National Renewable Energy Action Plan of the country, Bulgaria had to reach a 16% share of renewable energy target of total final consumption of energy by 2020, including a 10% share of energy from renewable sources in the consumption of energy in the transport sector.