In the last year, the turbines of the largest wind farm in Bulgaria covered the annual consumption of the households in a town like Dobrich
The largest wind farm in Bulgaria – St. Nikola Wind Farm, produced 344 545 MWh of renewable electricity in 2020. That is 18,5% more than the amount produced a year earlier.
The electricity generated by the 52 wind turbines is equal to the annual consumption of more than 95 000 households, i.e., with its work last year, St. Nikola Wind Farm provided green energy for the annual consumption of all households in a town like Dobrich.
In 2020, St. Nikola Wind Farm celebrated ten years of commercial operation. For this period, the wind farm produced nearly 3 200 000 MWh of clean electricity and saved Bulgaria about 2,6 million tons of carbon emissions. The total investment in the project for St. Nikola Wind Farm amounts to BGN 540 million, provided by The AES Corporation, EBRD and the IFC – part of the World Bank. With its capacity of 156 MW, the wind farm provides about 22% of the total installed wind capacities in Bulgaria.
St. Nikola Wind Farm is the backbone of the Integrated Early Warning System for Bird Protection, which complies with the European requirements for the preservation 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.
