Miracles happen. After only 9 months of construction, the largest photovoltaic park in Bulgaria - PPP Verila is already in operation

To build a photovoltaic park in just 9 months and on an area of 1,300 acres, with a substation, is an achievement. Especially for Bulgaria. At the beginning of the first day of summer, Electrohold officially launched the Verila Photovoltaic Power Plant. Annual electricity production is expected to be around 177,000 MWh. However, these are still pessimistic values. The production is expected to vary around 180 – 185 thousand MWh per year with the already planned expansion.

Miracles happen, he emphasized at the opening with special thanks to everyone involved in the construction process Kiril Boshov from Electrohold (Chairman of the Management Board of "Eurohold" and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of "Electrohold Sales"). However, this requires full synchronization of the work of the teams at all levels, trust of the funding institutions and constant cooperation of the authorities, especially the local ones. All this is the basis of the construction of the solar park in such a short time.

"In addition to being ambitious, such a project must also have very serious support from financing institutions, such as we received from DSK Bank, which stood behind this project. There is no way such a project can be done without serious support from financial institutions such as Varengold Bank, without full cooperation from the local authorities, the municipality of Dupnitsa, Saparev Banya, the municipality of Kyustendil.

This project clearly demonstrated how local government, investors and contractors work in full sync. Then miracles happen. Because the realization in such a short time is truly a miracle.

There is no way such a project can be done without the appropriate contractors in the person of SUNOTEC, as well as without the subcontractors," added Boshov.

The Verila Sunny Park is located on the southern slope of the Verila mountain next to the village of Kraynitsi near Dupnitsa on a terrain of over 1300 decares. The location is 700-1000 m above sea level on uneven terrain with steep slopes, which makes the photovoltaic plant one of the most attractive in Europe.

"Verila FPP is a big green step in the transition of Bulgaria and Europe towards clean energy from renewable sources. The company's strategy as one of the leading suppliers on the market is to offer green and sustainable solutions for its customers. Electrohold has a team of professionals with experience in energy management and the necessary infrastructure to expand its presence in the RES sector in the near future," said Karel Kral, CEO of Electrohold.

Absolute record breaker during build. Thus, the manager of SUNOTEC determined the short construction period. “Building a park is a function of many factors. The coordination between the investor, all the companies involved in this process and the construction control, the suppliers, was really at a very high level. No joke, this park for me personally is an absolute record holder in execution time. We have not done faster projects", comments the manager of the Bulgarian-German company SUNOTEC GROUP Kaloyan Velichkov. SUNOTEC is among the leaders in Europe in the construction of photovoltaic plants.

Over 220,000 solar panels of the Chinese company Jinco Solar have been installed on the territory of the Verila FPP. The steel structure is over 4,240 tons. During days with intense sunshine, the plant will produce electricity that can power areas such as Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad. The installed capacity of the photovoltaic park constitutes 7%* (according to ENTSO-E data) of the total capacity of the capacities built so far in this segment in the country.

In the process of intensive construction, the working team reached 210 people, it became clear from Velichkov's explanation. After commissioning, SUNOTEC will continue to maintain the solar plant for a period of 10 years. 12 people from the company will remain working at the site.

The project is viable and already has customers with long-term contracts in the form of leading telecommunications companies Yettel and CETIN, part of the Czech PPF Group. According to Karel Kral, the conclusion of more PRA contracts is expected.

Kiril Boshov, for his part, specified that the construction of storage facilities is already being discussed, assessing the most effective technologies at the moment.

"Such a large-scale investment of 100 million euros has never happened in Kyustendil region," noted the regional governor of Kyustendil Alexander Pandurski, who emphasized that there is also interest in other projects in the region.

For me, as the mayor of the municipality of Dupnitsa, this photovoltaic park is a source of pride not only because of the investment, but also because of its benefits, emphasized the city's mayor, Todor Chimev.

Kiril Boshov, for his part, made a proposal to the mayor of Dupnitsa (the city has long been known for its pharmaceutical industry) - to present itself as a city of pharmacy and solar energy.

Earlier at the opening, MEP Tsvetelina Penkova pointed out that "such type of projects should be part of the overall plan of Bulgaria". "Unfortunately, one is currently missing. They must be an active part of this plan, and we must realize that when we talk about a stable energy mix, we cannot help but rely on both the basic energy capacities and the complementary ones. All of this should go hand in hand in a very clear long-term strategy for the future. Without cooperation at all levels, starting from national, through local authorities, through business and international partnerships, we cannot achieve such successes", she pointed out, reminding that the event takes place in the week in which Sofia is hosting Green Week 2023.

“We are opening today's facility in a very green week. One of Europe's largest international conferences on the green transition continues to be held in Sofia. We saw a large part of the guests at it. A lot of interesting highlights were shared regarding what lies ahead and what we need to do. The road is very complicated. We are moving in the right direction, but we must not allow ourselves to fall behind or rest on the successes we have achieved, because competition in the energy sector has begun and continues to increase. I will only emphasize one thing - the opening of today's facility is very timely, because in the European Parliament we are also working on key legislation - the legislative act for industry with zero net emissions. This means that Europe is moving towards a process of industrialization, that these facilities and the components for them should start to be produced again on our continent," Penkova pointed out.

An expansion of the Verila power plant is forthcoming. The construction of storage facilities is already being discussed, assessing the most efficient technologies at the moment. This will increase the profitability of the solar park located on the slope of the mountain of the same name.