Bulgaria has met in advance the EU requirements for increasing the share of renewable energy sources /RES/ in its energy mix. Estonia and Sweden are the other two countries that have reached their 2020 targets earlier. Eurostat data show that back in 2012 the share of green energy in energy consumption here reached 16.3 percent, as the 2020 target set had been 16 percent. The overall RES share within the EU has reached 14 percent. The EC is convinced that the community member-states will succeed in meeting the 20 percent greening requirement by 2020. New ideas are also envisaged for increasing of green energy that will be discussed by the community’s leaders during the European Council on March 20 – 21. At the same time Eurostat reminds that energy has increased its prices in almost all EU members over the past 6 years.

However, the Bulgarian government has its reserves to the new European goals for growing the green energy share within the whole mix. According to Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev the setting of binding European goals for 2030 has been premature. First we need to have an assessment of the goals up to 2020, as well as their effect on real economy, before we can think of 2030. The Bulgarian stance is that Brussels shouldn’t take unilateral commitments, because those affect European economy in a negative manner. The ministry of economy and energy sent a report in December to the EC, reading that green energy as a share of energy consumption had exceeded the 16 percent commitment taken. The reasons pointed out: the increasing of wind and solar electrical energy, as well as the burning of biomass. Thus the new RES projects will be deprived from subsidies for purchase prices for the electricity produced. And the new EC plans envisage green energy to grow to 27 percent by 2030. The goal is investments in the sector to be stimulated. The reactions of the Greens and energy giants were expected. The first said the EC ideas were disappointing, while the latter voiced their concern about Brussels’ support to RES.

Experts comment that the over-achievement of the RES quota is due to the boom in the construction of windmills and solar parks for hundreds of millions of euro that proved themselves senseless after all. The large-scaled entering of green centrals in Bulgaria is caused by the guaranteed purchase of the electricity they produce. It’s like if you build a yogurt producing factory and the state buys all of your production. Thus the profit implemented is guaranteed and wouldn’t depend on the crisis, competition, or the market. Energy consumption in Bulgaria has fallen due to the crisis, which has automatically increased the RES share, guaranteed with Bulgaria’s engagements to Brussels. The growing of the wind and solar green energy has turned into the second major factor for this country’s energy mix. Electricity, produced by solar centrals jumped 8 times up in 2012 only. The reason – the increased photovoltaic capacities that reached 1 gigawatt within the course of a year only. The increase is also significant with windmills – over 50 percent.

RES caused more tension in the energy branch these days, because Bulgaria’s energy sphere collapsed. The energy minister threatened the energy distributing companies with sanctions, if those fail to return to the National Electricity Company /facing technical bankruptcy/ debts to the tune of EUR 164 mln. We are talking here on the purchase of RES electricity over the previous two years, paid to the companies by NEC in accordance with the EU regulation’s requirements for green energy doping. The state regulator on the other hand tries to make wind and solar centrals pay retroactive prices on the access to the transferring network, in order to compensate this deficit. According to the producers from both branches this is discrimination, because other RES and conventional centrals do not pay such fees. Brussels comments that the energy mix is a home affair of each member-state. Bulgaria will have to decide on its own whether it will invest in solar parks, windmills or will accentuate on energy effectiveness.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev