THERE IS DANGER OF "OVERHEATING" OF THE RES SECTOR

"If Bulgaria puts into operation all ordered and installed capacities of renewable energy sources (RES) this year, there will be no investments in the sector in the next 7 years," stated Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Delian Dobrev at the Balkan Policies for Green Growth forum, which was held in Sofia on Monday.

"We have RES capacities generating hundreds of megawatts of energy which will be installed this year. We should carefully subsidise "green energy" because, now, we are among the leading countries in the EU in terms of this policy," said Dobrev. He reminded that in the Czech Republic and Spain, the market for RES had already been "overheated" and both countries have abolished the preferential prices for "green energy". The Minister admitted that, exactly for this reason, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) has tried to get reinsured with slightly lower prices. "In 2020, some 20.8% of the energy in Bulgaria will come from RES, which is 6% more than the volumes generated at present," predicted Dobrev.

"An increase in the price of electricity of between 15% and 20% can be expected in 2013," said Velizar Kiryakov, Chairman of Bulgaria's Association of Producers of Ecological Energy. According to him, the increase in the price of electricity will be due to the price of the greenhouse gas quotas and the need to buy 30% of the emissions from next year and not due to green energy. According to representatives from the association, the price increase is not due to RES but to unrecoverable costs for "brown power" - from the co-generation of the district heating plants - including the switching of the thermoelectric power plants (TPP) on coal Galabovo TPP and Bobov Dol TPP to the system and the necessity for the purchase of carbon dioxide emissions from the beginning of 2013.

"Sofia District Heating sells its high-efficient co-generated electricity at a price 40% lower than any mix of photovoltaic, wind and hydropower plants," said Plamen Dilkov, Executive Director of PVB Power Bulgaria JSC about the new electricity prices for the Bulgarian National Radio.