Austria-based company Renalfa has bought the second largest wind park in Bulgaria from the Swiss group Alpiq. The wind farm Vetrocom near Kazanlak, located in central Bulgaria, has a capacity of 72.5 megawatts.
Alpiq's subsidiaries in Bulgaria - the operation and maintenance service provider Alpiq Wind Services and the electricity trader Alpiq Energy Bulgaria - will be acquired by the Bulgarian companies from the Renalfa group.
The deal still needs to be approved by the competition regulator, but the acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of 2023.
Significantly, the parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. And since such transactions are rare for the Bulgarian market, it is difficult to estimate the range of the deal. However, in 2021, Swiss company MET bought a 60-megawatt wind farm near Suvorovo, northwest, from the Spanish group Enhol, and at the time it was unofficially claimed the price was 50-60 million euros.
The sale
Alpiq Holding built the Vetrocom wind farm on the ridge of Stara Planina near Kazanlak during the period 2010-2012. It has 29 turbines and has been in operation for more than 10 years. The investment was then estimated at EUR 80 million. The installed capacity is a total of 72.5 megawatts, including two nearby wind farms - one with a capacity of 50 megawatts and the other with a capacity of 22.5 megawatts. Annual energy production is about 135 gigawatt hours. The latest annual reports show annual revenues topping BGN 26 million.
Alpic Wind Services is a subsidiary of Alpiq, established in 2017 and based in Bulgaria, which is mainly responsible for the safe and reliable operation and maintenance of the wind park.
And Alpic Energy Bulgaria is the trader of the electricity produced by the wind farm, and also participates in balancing electricity trade for Vetrocom and third parties.
All 31 employees of Alpiq in Bulgaria will continue to work in the Bulgarian RES sector as part of the Renalfa organization.
"Alpiq proudly looks back on more than a decade of successful ownership and operation of one of the largest wind farms in Bulgaria. I am delighted to hand over Vetrocom to the strong local Renalfa team who will continue and build on this success," said Lucas Gresnigt, head of Alpiq's international business division.
Who is the buyer?
Renalfa IPP is one of the leading investors and renewable players in Eastern Europe with more than 450 MW of operating assets or projects under active construction, and more than 1 GW of late-stage projects. The company is active in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. I is a joint venture between the French company for investment funds Rgreen INVEST and the Vienna-based Renalfa Solarpro Group, in which the publisher of Kapital Ivo Prokopiev is also a shareholder.
"We are pleased to announce the signing of the deal for the Vetrocom wind farm after winning a competitive tender. This is an important step for the technological diversification of our rapidly growing portfolio of generating assets in Eastern Europe," said Nik Antonov, Renalfa's Director of Communications.
Austria-based company Renalfa has bought the second largest wind park in Bulgaria from the Swiss group Alpiq. The wind farm Vetrocom near Kazanlak, located in central Bulgaria, has a capacity of 72.5 megawatts.
Alpiq's subsidiaries in Bulgaria - the operation and maintenance service provider Alpiq Wind Services and the electricity trader Alpiq Energy Bulgaria - will be acquired by the Bulgarian companies from the Renalfa group.
