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AES broke ground in June 2006 on our first project in Bulgaria, AES Maritza East I—the largest greenfield investment to date in southeast Europe, AES’s single largest greenfield project investment to date and the single largest foreign investment to date in the country’s power sector.
Bulgaria is the kind of country in which AES looks to do business—a country experiencing growth and burgeoning demand, with developing infrastructure, fair market rules and an energy sector that we can help vitalize. The country joined the European Union (EU) in 2007 and has a growth rate nearly double that of the average EU country.
AES’s presence in the country is helping to lay groundwork for the future. The 670 MW power plant will help supply Bulgaria’s electricity needs and maintain the country’s position as an energy hub for southeast Europe. When completed, it is expected to be the most efficient and cleanest fossil fuel power plant in Bulgaria, meeting World Bank and EU environmental standards.
Project Finance magazine named AES Maritza “European Power Deal of the Year” for 2005, commenting, “AES’s financing for its Maritza East I plant… cements both the host country’s claim to be a viable EU accession state and AES’s claim to be a viable force in global power.”
Building on AES’s presence in Bulgaria, in October 2006, AES announced that it had acquired a minority stake in a 120 MW wind development project, one of the largest wind development projects in southeast Europe to date. AES expects to generate almost 800 MW of power in Bulgaria by 2010 once AES Maritza East 1 and the wind generation project reach commercial operation.
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