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EVN says Balkan power plans unaffected by crisis
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Pangea on 10/12/2009 22:00:00
 
Stefan Szyszkowitz, chief executive of EVN Bulgaria and head of the business
unit for southeastern Europe, told Reuters the company was on the lookout for
power producing assets -- mainly in renewable energy -- in Bulgaria, Macedonia
and Romania.   "We will keep the level of investment, because we are not an
industry that is highly affected by cycles," Szyszkowitz said in an interview. 
"As a group, we have a target to secure in mid-term that 50 percent from the
energy we distribute comes from our own production".   Austria's second biggest
utility supplies electricity to 2.2 million customers in southeastern Bulgaria
and in neighbouring Macedonia. In Bulgaria, it also owns a heating power plant
while in Macedonia it runs 11 small hydro-power generators.   "If you have 2.2
million customers in a region, you have a strategic interest to secure
electricity for them, therefore we have an interest in production capacity," he
said. "There is a real demand for energy in the region and it has a lot of
growth potential."   Energy analysts estimate the annual power deficit in
southeastern Europe at about 15 billion kilowatt hours and say power consumption
will grow by about 2-3 percent a year.   Szyszkowitz said EVN was interested in
acquiring or building hydro and thermal power plants, as well as wind farms. EVN
has said it plans to spend about 200 million euros in the next several years to
build wind farms in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania. "The group has a strong
interest in renewables. Only in Bulgaria and Macedonia we see a potential for us
of around 200 megawatts of capacity, mainly in wind," he said.   EVN is already
developing a project to build a wind farm on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast with
an estimated capacity of 50 MW and eyes a long-delayed Bulgarian hydro-power
project at Gorna Arda river near the border with Turkey.   The company plans to
build a new co-generation unit at its heating power plant and double its power
generation capacity to to 60 MW by the end of 2011.   The utility, which took
control of power distribution in southeastern Bulgaria in early 2005 plans will
invest 130 million levs ($83.7 million) next year, flat on this year, to upgrade
the outdated power grid and boost efficiency.