Swiss-based gas and power trader and electricity producer MET Group has bought a 60 MW wind farm in Bulgaria within a plan to boost its operational renewable power portfolio in Central and East Europe to 500 MW by 2023.

MET Group now has 394 MW of installed capacity in solar power plants and wind farms in operation or in the pipeline. The company operates 100 MW in solar power plants in Hungary and has another 150 MW of PV facilities under construction or in the late phase of development. In Bulgaria, MET Group owns the 42 MW Black Sea Wind Park, which it bought from Enel, and it has a 102 MW wind project in the pipeline in Serbia.

Suvorovo Wind Park belonged to Spanish family-owned Grupo Enhol

MET Group signed a share purchase agreement with Grupo Enhol, a Spanish family-owned company focusing on renewable energy, to acquire its 60 MW Suvorovo Wind Park in Western Bulgaria, along the Black Sea coastline. The Swiss firm said it expects to close the transaction in the third quarter.

Suvorovo Wind Park, representing 8.5% of the total installed wind capacity in Bulgaria, consists of 30 units of Gamesa G90 wind turbines – 2 MW each. The wind farm, operating since 2012, produces approximately 120 GWh of electricity per year, supplying power equivalent to the consumption of around 38,000 households.

MET Group plans to have 500 MW in operation by 2023

The transaction is an important step in achieving MET’s renewables growth targets in the CEE region of 500 MW in operation by 2023, the company said.

MET Group added it aims at growth in renewable power generation in Central and East Europe as a core part of its business strategy.

CEO Benjamin Lakatos said the company’s integrated approach to business in its core markets will add additional value to support the energy transition towards renewables.