Photo: Diana Zhelyazkova.
Another 30 decares of arable land in Kaolinovo municipality will be converted into production zones due to future wind farms in the area. Facilities for electrical energy storage and an electrical substation will be built on the fields.
This becomes clear from the public discussion announced by Kaolinovo municipality on a project to amend the General Development Plan (GDP), which will be held on August 11 at 10 AM in the ceremonial hall of the town hall. A project for changing the designation of three agricultural properties will be presented to interested citizens (if any appear) – two in the village of Lyatno and one in Kaolinovo, which will change from “arable land” to “purely industrial.” According to the project, the building density will be up to 80%.
The Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water (RIEW) in Shumen has decided not to conduct an environmental assessment of the project for partial amendment of Kaolinovo municipality’s GDP, reasoning that the project “is unlikely to have a significant negative impact on the environment and human health.” The eco-inspectorate says that the batteries for electrical energy storage and the substation do not threaten the environment, and the change of agricultural lands is an “insignificant alteration” that covers only 0.02% of the arable fields in the municipality.
Three wind farms in the small municipality
Three wind farms will be built in Kaolinovo municipality – “Ruzhitsa,” “Ludogorie,” and “Kaolinovo,” which have been approved by the local parliament.
Wind farm “Ruzhitsa” with a total of 50 turbines will be located in Kaolinovo and Nikola Kozlevo municipalities. In the Kaolinovo area, the generators will be built in the territories of the villages of Dolina, Lisi vrah, Lyatno and in the municipal center. The owner of the company and investor in wind farm “Ruzhitsa” – Dimitar Enchev, also owns the company “Energaya,” which wants the two agricultural fields in the village of Lyatno. “Energaya” itself will build another wind farm in the Shumen region with 24 turbines in Hitrino and Venets municipalities.
“Ludogorie Wind Park” is for 18 wind generators and one electrical substation in the territories of 4 Kaolinovo villages – Kliment, Gusla, Branichevo and Pristoe.
“Kaolinovo Wind Park” envisions 9 wind generators on the territory of Lyatno village and Kaolinovo town.
The RIEW report states that in Kaolinovo municipality, a total of 39 wind turbines with a height of 180-200 meters are in the construction process. “With the construction of all generators, there will be 7.6 sq. kilometers per generator,” the eco-inspectorate states and concludes that “the density of generators at this stage is not significant and the distances between them do not hinder the free movement of birds.”
The “density” of turbines is higher in the territories of Kaolinovo town and Lyatno village. There will be a total of 13 generators there – 9 from “Kaolinovo” park and 4 from “Ruzhitsa” park, and after their construction there will be 3.6 sq. kilometers per generator, RIEW indicates.
In Shumen region, 6 wind farms are planned with a total of 159 turbines in the territories of the northern municipalities of Hitrino, Venets, Kaolinovo and Nikola Kozlevo.
At the beginning of 2025, nearly 100 residents of Nikola Kozlevo and Kaolinovo protested in front of the regional administration against the intentions to build wind energy parks. The main concerns of the protesters were that the turbines are dangerous for both the population and nature. However, the eco-inspectorate in Shumen gave a green light to all parks and declared that these wind generators are completely safe for both nature and people.
