Bulgaria and Austria may turn out to be the two most benefiting countries from the moving to green economy, the EC annual report on EU business says. The reason stands in the economic features of the two states. The additional activities for the production of pure energy and eco products are many, while at the same time few employees in the sphere produce a great deal of the states’ GDP. The adoption of a 2020 strategy for economic growth is the new EC’s top priority. The main accent will be on passing over to green economy. EC experts say that this will be the only way for millions of Europeans to find a new job after the shrinking of the market. This transformation will change the structure of the labor market within entire economy branches. Many jobs will be closed down, while new ones will be opened at the same time. After the crisis many of the laid-off employees won’t be able to get back to their old jobs and this will give them the chance to train in new “green” professions. Coalminers or construction workers for instance will be able to start working for energy efficiency companies. The greatest changes are expected in the energy and raw material mining spheres.
The Bulgarian government also relies on green economy development. “One of our goals is to invest more in the “Green Bulgaria” startegy – Deputy PM Simeon Dyankov said for the government’s program for stimulating green projects. “We have to think about what we would like Bulgaria to be in the next years and not only how to get out of the crisis. Bulgaria has the chance of becoming the EU “green” leader, as far as the country’s image and economy are concerned. The government relies mainly on energy efficiency and development of rechargeable energy resources, as well as mineral waters’ usage, ecotourism and ecological agriculture.
“I am completely sure that Bulgaria has a great chance to participate pro-actively in the initiative – Bulgarian European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a recent interview for Radio Bulgaria. First, it is because we can achieve a lot in the energy efficciency area, which will save a lot of money. Second – the Bulgarian economy depends a lot on tourism and agriculture. There are many options for development in both branches.”
Bulgaria will receive from the EU almost EUR 3 bln. for “green” projects development till 2013. Ten different lines of activities will be financed. The water sector, the railway transport, the waste management and the energy efficiency branches will receive the greatest part of the money. Almost EUR 66.5 mln. will be invested in renewable energy sources /RES/. The goal is Bulgaria to fulfill by 2020 the EU demands for 20% of the energy to be produced by RES. Last year 3MW of solar power energy devices were installed in Bulgaria. The RES projects, declared till now provide a capacity of 12 000 MW, 8 000 of them would be derived from wind energy, while the other 4 000 – for solar energy. Bulgaria has the potential to become a leading state in solar energy production, Reuters agency said, analyzing the market and the branch options. The agency forecast that the capacity of the solar power stations might grow to 140 MW in the end of 2010. However, the preferential terms towards potential investors should be kept in order this growth to be achieved.
The green economy has many opponents too. Some experts say that the state support for the building and exploitation of RES has caused a true fever among investors, which may overload the electric network with new capacities. The higher price of the electricity, produced by solar and wind resources, creates extra difficulties for the budget of the average Bulgarian citizen.
Despite the financial crisis, there was a significant growth of foreign investments in the building of wind generators and solar parks in 2009, Invest Bulgaria Agency said. There is a huge interest towards this industrial branch. American scientists’ data confirm it, saying that the solar and wind energy have brought record profits through the past year and promise excellent results for the future. The World Bank’s ex-vice-president Kristalina Georgieva generalizes green economy tendencies most accurately: “This will be the biggest transformation, even bigger than the IT revolution.”
English version: Zhivko Stanchev
