Hithium and Solarpro announced they will build a 55 MWh energy storage facility in the southwestern Bulgarian town of Razlog. Construction will start next year.

The companies claim in a press release published yesterday that this will be the “largest” battery energy storage project in southeast Europe and the facility will support an already existing 33 MWp solar plant. The press release did not mention who owned the existing 33 MWp solar project.

China-based energy storage company Hithium is supplying the 55 MWh project’s batteries while Bulgarian-based solar energy contractor Solarpro is providing turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services.

Hithium will supply 16 3.44 MWh capacity energy storage containers.

An unnamed subsidiary of the Vienna-based independent power producer Renalfa will own the battery energy storage systems (BESS), according to the press release. The investor decided to co-locate the battery within the existing 33 MWp capacity PV plant.

The array will have a PV tracker mounting system and a substation.

Bulgaria recorded 1,948 MW solar PV installed capacity at the end of 2022, according to recent statistics published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Last month the Bulgarian government launched its first renewables program, which is expected to allocate over 1,400 MW in power generation and 350 MW of storage.