Bulgaria Launches €350 Million Tender to Triple Pumped-Hydro Storage at Yadenitza

Bulgaria’s National Electric Company (NEK) has issued a tender worth €350 million to construct a new dam at Yadenitza, a project that would more than triple the working water volume of the existing cascade and materially expand the country’s grid balancing capacity.

Rather than building from scratch, NEK is scaling infrastructure that already operates at a rated capacity of 784 MW in pumping mode and 864 MW in generation mode. A six-kilometre tunnel would connect the existing Chaira reservoir to the new dam, raising the site’s working water volume from 4.2 to 13.4 million cubic metres and enabling round-the-clock operation.

The project’s cost has risen by €100 million above initial estimates, bringing the total to €350 million. Financing is expected to come from the state budget and EU funds; the European Union formally added Yadenitza to its Projects of Common Interest list earlier this year. Bidders have until 4 November to submit applications, and the winning contractor will have 60 months to complete all works.

The expansion reflects a wider Bulgarian strategy to anchor grid stability through long-term storage. The country currently records the highest growth rate in the battery storage market in Europe relative to its economic size and population, and authorities have identified ten sites as candidates for new pumped-hydro plants.

Source: Balkan Green Energy News