On December 5, AES Geo Energy received a Class 1 investor certificate for the construction of a wind energy farm, the company said in a media statement.

The project is a joint initiative of AES Bulgaria and Geo Power.

Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Valentin Ivanov handed the certificate to Peter Lithgow, country manager of AES in Bulgaria and to Dimitar Hristov, CEO of Geo Power.

The Class 1 certificate would oblige the state to provide the necessary infrastructure for the project, Dnevnik daily said.

AES Geo Power is an investment project for generating electricity from environmentally-friendly resources, such as wind, the American chamber of commerce said. The wind farm capacity will be up to 200 MW and will be located near the Bulgarian town of Kavarna. Total investment in the wind energy project amounts to over 300 million euro.

Construction of the wind mill park was part of the strategy of AES for the development of wind energy projects in Europe, Lithgow was quoted by Dnevnik as saying.

The project is expected to be ready in 2008.