Located about 250km southeast of Sofia on the Vacha river in the Rhodopi mountain range, the US$260M project is due for completion in 2009.
VA Tech Hydro has been appointed the main contractor for the scheme, which is funded through bank loans and state guarantees.
The project has been labelled a CO2 reduction project, within the scope of the Kyoto protocol mechanisms. Emission certificates generated by the plant will be transferred to the Austrian carbon credit programme via the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JI).
On 1 October 2003, an Austrian group of companies consisting of Verbundplan and Alpine Mayreder, as well as VA Tech Hydro as the overall co-ordinator, jointly signed contracts with the Bulgarian Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania (NEK) to equip Tsankov Kamak hydro power plant. The financing contracts for the implementation of the project were signed in Vienna, Austria on 14 November of the same year.
