The reason why the price of electricity is high across Europe is most likely rooted in the price of natural gas. Most likely, many of the plants have transformed the energy raw material from coal to natural gas. Now, in fact, the price is getting very high. This was stated by Prof. Dr. Eng. Valentin Kolev, Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Power Engineers, and Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technical University – Sofia in an interview for Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.
“Coal-fired power plants that are very difficult to install in the EU can be replaced by renewable energy sources to achieve carbon-free energy. The reasons for this are related to the control of the active power and energy regime, as well as the participation of these capacities in primary, secondary and tertiary regulation of the electricity system as a whole in Europe.”
Prof. Valentin Kolev believes that the peaks in electricity prices on the day ahead cannot be due to unclean corporate interests, because the platform’s administration process is not on our territory. “This is a platform that monitors the supply function with the electricity demand function. Where the two functions intersect, the price is determined. The reason for the high price may be energy shortages.”
It will be best for the industry to strive for futures transactions, according to Prof. Kolev. He is of the opinion that the Bulgarian condensing plants (TPPs) should work as long as possible, because the abrupt transition to carbon-free energy will inevitably lead to a shortage of electricity. He added that as a temporary measure, a transformation can be made and coal can be the main energy source for natural gas.
