CWP unit drops part of large wind development in Bulgaria

A majority-owned unit of renewables developer CWP Global will not be realising in full a 79-turbine wind project in northeastern Bulgaria, despite obtaining a favourable decision from the country’s Supreme Administrative Court.

In a statement on its website, project vehicle Dobrotich Wind AD attributed this decision to “a biased attitude on the part of the local authorities and a smear campaign” aimed at misinforming locals and manipulating their views.

The decision concerns a portion of the project located in the municipality of Vetrino, which last July banned the installation of wind turbines on its territory. A regional court eventually ruled against the moratorium and that ruling was upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court last month.

Despite the positive outcome, the CWP subsidiary will not be filing an application for an amendment of the General Development Plan (GDP) to erect new wind turbines. It said that the municipality’s actions, or lack thereof, have led to a significant delay in the company’s planned investment. Moreover, it costs the company hundreds of millions in missed revenues.

As part of the overall project, which was previously estimated to require a total investment of about BGN 1.2 billion (USD 686m/EUR 614m), turbines are also supposed to be installed in the municipality of Valchi Dol. The developer noted that the project-related social programme there is in full swing.

As a result, Dobrotich Wind now only intends to install 58 turbines, eight in Vetrino and 50 in Valchi Dol with up to 464 MW of combined capacity. The company made the following comment for Renewables Now:

"By decision of the Supreme Administrative Court as of 5th June, the supreme judges confirmed an earlier decision of the Administrative Court in Varna for the nullity of Decision of the Municipal Council - Vetrino, held on 07/08/2022, which introduced a ban on installation of wind turbines at municipal territory.

"By virtue of this court decision, the Municipal Council - Vetrino had had to reconsider the proposal of the citizens' initiative that prompted the adoption of the null and void decision within one month.

"Although the deadline for reviewing this decision expired, the local parliament quite unjustifiably tasked the mayor of the municipality with clarifying their powers in the specific case. Instead, the Mayor - Dimitar Dimitrov, under the pretext of "saving" the Municipality from an international investor and the wind turbines, actually uses its residents, the municipal council and the media to conduct his election campaign and achieve his political goals.

"The tendentious attitude of the local government bodies shows a lack of understanding and disrespect for the authority of the court and is likely to cause other violations of the law. Last but not least, the abdication of the administrative authorities from their statutory powers led to a significant delay and limitation of the project, which is why at this stage the company does not envisage expanding its investment on the territory of the Vetrino municipality."

(BGN 1.0 = USD 0.572/EUR 0.511)

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