Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is 4,456.9 km2 (1,720.8 sq mi) that is divided into 12 municipalities with a total population of 275,548 inhabitants, as of February 2011.
Batak is a town in Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria, not far from the town of Peshtera. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Batak Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,498 inhabitants.
Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD (NEK) (Bulgarian: Национална електрическа компания ЕАД) is a single-owned joint-stock electric company headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgarian Energy Holding is the holder of the capital of NEK.
Hydro Power Company Gorna Arda is a Bulgarian company, established in 1999 by the National Electricity Company and the Turkish Ceylan Holding. It was established after the signing of an intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and Turkey for a long-term barter. The Turkish side constructs roads and a cascade of hydropower plants in Bulgaria, and Bulgaria exports energy in return.
The Kardzhali Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power near Kardzhali, southern Bulgaria constructed on the dam of the same name on the river Arda. It has 3 individual turbines with a nominal output of around 36 MW which deliver up to 108 MW of power.
The Sestrimo Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project in the eastern Rila mountains near Sestrimo village, Bulgaria. Water is supplied by the Belmeken Dam to three turbines with a nominal output of around 80 MW which will deliver up to 240 MW of power. It is part of the Belmeken-Chaira-Sestrimo Hydropower Cascade. The same reservoir is used for pumped storage with the Chaira Hydro Power Plant.
The Teshel Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project near Teshel, Smolyan Province, southern Bulgaria. It is situated along the river Vacha in the Rhodope Mountains. It has 2 individual Francis turbines which deliver up to 60 MW of power. The Teshel HPP forms part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade (500.2 MW).
The Belmeken Hydro Power Plant is an active pumped storage hydro power project in the eastern Rila mountains, Bulgaria. It receives its water from the Belmeken Reservoir and has 5 individual turbines with a nominal output of around 75 megawatts (101,000 hp) which can deliver up to 375 megawatts (503,000 hp) of power, as well as 2 pumps with an installed capacity of 104 MW. It is part of the Belmeken-Chaira-Sestrimo Hydropower Cascade.
The Chaira Pumped Storage Hydro Power Plant was built in the Rila mountains, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of Bulgaria's capital city, Sofia. Chaira has generating capacity of 864 megawatts (1,159,000 hp) and a pumping capacity of 788 megawatts (1,057,000 hp). The power plant is equipped with four reversible Francis pump-turbines, each rated at 216 megawatts (290,000 hp) in the generating mode, and 197 megawatts (264,000 hp) in pumping mode. Units 1 and 2 have been in operation since 1995, and at that time Chaira was the largest pumped-storage plant in southeast Europe with the highest head in the world for a single-stage pump turbine. Units 3 and 4 came online in 1999. The pump-turbines and motor-generators were supplied by Toshiba, and three of them were manufactured under Japanese supervision in Bulgaria. The upper basin for Chaira is formed by the Belmeken Dam which connects to the pumped storage plant by two headrace tunnels with a diameter of 4.2 metres (14 ft) and two penstocks with diameter 4.4 metres (14 ft), reducing to 4.2 metres (14 ft). Outflow from the Belmeken reservoir supplies the Sestrimo Hydro Power Plant
The Devin Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project in Devin, Smolyan Province, southern Bulgaria. Situated along the river Vacha in the Rhodope Mountains, it has 2 individual turbines with a nominal output of 44 MW which deliver up to 88 MW of power. It is part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade (500.2 MW).
The Krichim Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project in Krichim, Plovdiv Province, southern Bulgaria. It is situated downstream of the Krichim Reservoir along the river Vacha. It has 4 individual turbines with a nominal output of 20 MW which deliver up to 80 MW of power. It is part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade (500.2 MW).
The Momina Klisura Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project in the eastern Rila mountains, located at the Maritsa river near Momina Klisura village, Bulgaria. It has 4 individual turbines with a nominal output of around 30 MW which will deliver up to 120 MW of power. It is the final stage of the Belmeken-Chaira-Sestrimo Hydropower Cascade.
The Orphey Pumpted Storage Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project near Krichim in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It has 4 individual Francis turbines which deliver up to 164.8 MW of power. One of the turbines can be used as a pump as well, making this power plant a pumped storage type. The power plant uses water from the Vacha Reservoir along the homonymous river, and is part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade. The plant is named after Orpheus, who is said to have lived in these lands.
The Aleko Hydro Power Plant is an active hydro power project near Aleko Konstantinovo, Bulgaria, which is part of the Batak Hydropower Cascade. It has 3 individual Francis turbines with an installed capacity of 71.4 MW of power.
The Ivaylovgrad Dam(язовир "Ивайловград") is located in the eastern Rhodope Mountains and is situated on the Arda river, Southern Bulgaria. There are another two large dams of the Arda upstream - Kardzhali Dam and Studen Kladenets Dam to the west of Ivaylovgrad Dam.
Krichim Dam is a dam on the Vacha River, Bulgaria. It is part of the Dospat–Vacha Hydropower Cascade (500.2 MW) involving four more dams and seven power stations. The three existing dams on the Vacha River are the Vacha Dam, Tsankov Dam, and the Kamak Dam. The 144.5 metres (474 ft) concrete dam was in its implementation stage as of 2011.
Hydroelectricity generated 11% of Bulgaria’s electricity in 2021.
The Batak Hydroelectric Cascade is situated in the Pazardzhik Province, southern Bulgaria and is among the first hydroelectric cascades in the country. Inaugurated on 6 September 1959, it includes seven reservoirs and three underground hydro power plants — Batak, Peshtera and Aleko with a combined installed capacity of 254.2 MW, producing an average of 796 GWh annually.
Batak Hydro Power Plant is an active underground hydro power plant located in Batak, Bulgaria, which is a part of the Batak Hydropower Cascade.
Aleko Konstantinovo is a village in southern Bulgaria. It has a population of 3,265 as of 2022. The village is named after the renown Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinov, who was assassinated nearby en route to Peshtera in 1897.
