Japan's Ambassador to Bulgaria will pay a visit to the town of Yambol on Wednesday to discuss the planned investment of a Japanese company in the construction of a solar power plant there.

The meeting is at the initiative of His Excellency Makoto Ito, the municipality announced.

The Japanese company Toshiba voiced last year plans to invest in construction of solar power plants in the USA and countries in Europe, including Bulgaria.

Toshiba will begin implementing its investment plan with the construction of a 10 MW solar power plant in Bulgaria, which is expected to begin working in this financial year.

The plant will be located near the Bulgarian city of Yambol and it will cost about EUR 3,7 M. It will be sufficient to supply electricity to about 2000 households.

Toshiba will not retain the ownership of the plant but would sell it to local financial funds and investors instead.

Meanwhile at the beginning of this year Japan's Nikkei business daily reported that Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power will set up a local joint venture with the Japanese government to build one of the world's largest solar power stations in Bulgaria.

The plant will be located near the Bulgarian city of Yambol and will cost more than 100 billion yen (USD1.2 B).

According to the report the plant is expected to be built by March 2012 with an output capacity of roughly 50,000 kilowatts, which will be gradually increased to 250,000 kilowatts in five years.

Toshiba, Tokyo Electric, Japanese trader Itochu and the government-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan will invest a total of around 50 billion yen, the report said.

The Czech-owned power utility CEZ, which provides electricity to western Bulgaria, will also take part in the joint venture, investing as much as 20 billion yen.

A Toshiba spokesman has declined to reveal details about the particular project, but confirmed that the company is developing solar power in Bulgaria.

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