Bulgaria to revive Danube hydro-power projects

The Bulgarian government decided on Thursday to revive communist era projects to build several hydro-power plants with Romania on the river Danube with total capacity of over 1,000 megawatts.

The government set up a working group to carry out a feasibility study of the projects, first announced more than 30 years ago, and explore public-private partnerships to fund the construction, the cabinet said in a statement.

The projects envisage the construction of two 440 MW hydro-power plants at the towns of Nikopol in Bulgaria and Turnu Magurele in Romania as well as a 265 MW plant in the Bulgarian town of Silistra on the Danube.

Hydropower currently accounts for 10 percent of Bulgaria electricity.

The Balkan country has said it will expand hydro-power production to help it meet European Union targets to raise renewable energy's share to 20 percent of all power by 2020.

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Source: Reuters