Seven top investors which have poured a total of 2,2 B leva in Bulgaria in 2009 were handed the prize “Investor of the year”. The event is organized for the fourth consecutive year by InvestBulgaria Agency. Bulgarian copper and gold mining company Elatsite Med, which has invested BGN 86 M for this and the previous year and created 1780 jobs, grabbed the prize in the Mining Industry. Tehnogips, which is one of the biggest construction companies in the country, was awarded for in the sector Processing Industry for the manufacturing of plaster products. The company has invested a total of BGN 95 M in th construction materials factory near the town of Radnevo, creating jobs for 120 people. The factory for hydraulic systems and vacuum technology products Iksetik Plovdiv was named an investor of the year in the Processing Industry sector for the manufacturing of spare parts for cars. More than BGN 34 M has been invested in the construction of the factory, which offered jobs to 34 people. Enel Maritsa Iztok 3 power utility was prized in the Energy sector for production of electricity and heating energy. The costs of the investment project for its rehabilitation and upgrade towered to EUR 700 M, which boosted its generation capacity from 840 to 908 MW and added fifteen years to its operating lifetime. AES Geo Energy, a joint venture between US energy company AES and Bulgarian-German firm Geo Power, was awarded in the Energy sector - electricity production from renewable energy sources. The company recently cut the ribbon for its EUR 270 M wind farm near Kavarna, on the northern Black Sea coast. The St Nicola facility, which will be plugged to the grid by the end of the year, has wind power generating capacity of more than 150 MW. Rollplast, the Bulgarian manufacturer of door and window framing, was named investor of the year in the Processing Industry sector for its production facility in Kostinbrod and the expansion of its outlet network with total costs standing at BGN 20 M. Power and automation technology provider ABB grabbed the prize in the Processing Industry for the construction of electricity distribution substations. The award recognizes as a significant achievement the greenfield investment in a new factory at Rakovski industry zone, near the town of Plovdiv, worth BGN 30 M.