AES St. Nikola Wind Farm contributes to Bulgaria’s green future

The green energy transformation on a global scale is underway and as one of the flagships of this transition towards a greener and sustainable energy sector, AES is continuously working for this. A proof for the latter is the recently announced data that the AES Corporation has completed 3.5 GW of renewables projects in 2023, nearly doubling the capacity constructed compared to 2022. ‘This construction milestone represents a new record and a growth rate of nearly 100% over 2022. Including these newly added projects, AES' portfolio of renewables now reaches 18.4 GW,’ said Andrés Gluski, AES President and Chief Executive Officer. Of the 3.5 GW of projects that AES completed, 1.6 GW are solar, 1.3 GW are wind, and 0.6 GW are energy storage.

The energy sector transformation is also a fact in Bulgaria and AES St. Nikola Wind Farm contributes to accelerating the green future of energy by marking its peak year in terms of energy generation. In 2023, the wind farm generated 372,485 MWh of green electricity which is the largest amount of electricity produced by the park since its commissioning in 2010. During 2023, St. Nikola marked also several monthly records in terms of output.

With its 156 MW of installed capacity, the wind farm provides over 22% of the overall installed wind capacity in Bulgaria and enables the country to meet the EU requirements for the RES share in the overall energy mix. AES Geo Energy is the owner of St Nikola Wind Farm, which is one of the two energy projects of AES in Bulgaria – the global technological leader and biggest investor in the Bulgarian energy sector for the last 30 years. The St Nikola Wind Farm project investment amounts to BGN 540 million.

St Nikola also pioneered the use of state-of-the-art bird monitoring technology to protect birds in the Kaliakra region. The wind farm is the backbone of the Integrated Early Warning System for Bird Protection, which complies with the European requirements for the conservation of wild birds. The integrated system minimizes the risk of bird collisions with the rotating parts of the wind turbines by stopping single turbines or the entire wind farm and implements a monitoring program during the risk periods for species of protection significance. The system integrates information from several radar systems, as well as direct on-site monitoring by ornithologists, who regularly monitor birds in the area, assess potential hazards, and, where necessary, issue turbine shutdown orders. Despite its impressive size – 105 meters and the diameter of the rotor 90 meters, each of the generators can stop if there are flying birds and let them pass.

Through its cutting-edge technology and modern energy solutions, AES Bulgaria contributes significantly to achieving Bulgaria’s green future and to The AES’ goal to accelerate the future of energy.