About 500 million euro will be invested in wind farms in northeastern Bulgaria by the end of 2009, Velizar Kiryakov, chairperson of the association of eco energy producers, has said. Another 100 million leva will be spent on solar power generation.

The favourable climate in this part of the country helps recoup the investments within eight years on average.

US firm AES is already developing the biggest wind farm project in Bulgaria. It is also the investor in the Maritsa East coal-fired power plant and is building a 156MW wind farm near Kavarna, on the northern coast.

Spanish company Eolica will raise a 160MW wind park locked between Souvorovo and Vulchi Dol, near the northern coastal city of Varna.

A few smaller projects of Austrian and Bulgarian companies with a total capacity of 105MW will go online by the end of 2008.

Kiryakov sounded the alarm that Bulgaria is lagging drastically behind global and European requirements on its percentage of renewable energy. About 11 per cent of Bulgaria's power output should come from alternative energy sources by 2013 and 16 per cent in 2020, under a draft EU directive pending approval by the end of the year. The requirement for industrial producers to buy carbon emissions will hike electricity prices to include greenhouse gas emissions, whose cost is expected to surge to 50 or 60 euro a ton.

Renewable energy currently accounts for 9.1 per cent of Bulgaria total output with wind farms generating 9.0 per cent of it. The remainder is produced by wind generators, solar parks and biomass-fuelled power stations.