Supply: Energy Sources
Electricity
Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs)
Bulgaria operates the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant with two units of the WWER 1000/320 design type (Units 5 and 6). The first 4 units were shut down in 2003 and 2006 in order to comply with European Union standards. The additional power plant Belene was already planned in 1980, but rejected due to safety reasons. However the plans have been revived and in January 2008 a contract for design, construction and commissioning of units 1 & 2 (1000 MWe each) of NPP was signed by NEK EAD and Atomstroyexort JSC (Russian Federation).
Production of Electricity in 2008 according to energy sources in Bulgaria, as compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Austria and the European Union 15
Per Capita Consumption of Electricity since 1988 in Bulgaria, as compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Austria and the European Union 15
Electricity balance - 2009 | TWh | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
Gross Production, of which | 43.38 | 100.0 | |
hydro | 3.65 | 8.41 | |
nuclear | 15.21 | 35.06 | |
wind | 0.36 | 0.83 | |
thermal, of which | 24.16 | 55.69 | |
| ex-coal | 22.09 | 50.92 |
| ex-oil | 0.38 | 0.88 |
| ex-gas | 1.67 | 3.85 |
| ex-biomass | 0.02 | 0.05 |
Net Production | 39.13 | 90.20 | |
Imports | 2.66 | 6.13 | |
Exports | -7.74 | -17.84 | |
Transport/distribution losses | -5.26 | -12.13 | |
Total Consumption | 27.92 | 64.36 | |
Energy sector consumption | 0.34 | 0.78 | |
Final Consumption | 27.58 | 63.58 | |
| industry | 10.48 | 24.16 |
| transport | 0.31 | 0.71 |
| households, services | 16.80 | 38.73 |
Electricity Production by Energy Carriers, Bulgaria 2009
Electricity grid
Bulgaria's electric power transmission network consists of transmission lines of 750 kilovolt (kV), 400 kV, 220 kV, and 110 kV; step-down substations; medium and low voltage distribution networks that supply the industrial, public and residential customers; transformer stations and nodal substations, and installed medium voltage transformer capacity. The system of 400, 220 and 110 kV lines, which have a total length of about 12,269 kilometers, operates in a ring mode. The inter-system transmission line of 750 kV from Varna to Isakcha to Yujnoukrainskaya nuclear power plant and the inter-system transmission line of 400 kV from Dobrudja to Vulkanesht are presently in a reserve status. In May 2001, Bulgaria moved to increase the linkage of its electric system to Turkey's by starting the construction of a second 400 kV cable to Turkey. It is estimated that the 42-mile link will cost $35 million. [US DoE]
Oil and Natural Gas
Oil
Bulgaria oil resources are very modest and sum up to approximately 2 Mt. The imports of oil are around 6 Mt. Bulgaria has an important refinery with a production capacity of 300,000 bl/day, located on the Black Sea coast at Burgas. [Enerdata]
Gas
Bulgaria has natural gas reserves (4 Gm3 approximately). At present, Bulgaria has virtually no domestic production of natural gas; almost all gas consumed in the country is imported from Russia. [US DoE, Enerdata]
Coal
Bulgaria has substantial reserves of lignite (2.5 Gt representing 80 years of production), within difficult reach (located under cities and villages), with high sulphur content (2 %) and with low calorific value (2,000 kcal/kg / 8,3736 MJ/kg). It has also more modest reserves of sub-bituminous coal. The largest deposit is the Maritsa coal field in southern Bulgaria. Expected production rates, the reserves at Maritsa are projected to last about 50 years.
The production remained stable around 29-30 Mt until 1999 when it fell to 25 Mt. It recovered to its level of 1998 (30 Mt in 2001). In addition, Bulgaria imports bituminous coal and coking coal (about 3 Mt). [Enerdata]
Renewable energy
The promotion of renewable energy is a very important part of the National Energy Strategy. It is anchored in the Bulgarian Energy Act, as well as in the Energy Efficiency Act.
Chapter 11 of the Energy Act covers the promotion of production of electricity from renewable energy sources and cogeneration.
The current National renewable energy sources target to be achieved in 2010 is 11 % of electric energy consumption.
Large scale hydro power is by now the main share of renewable energy, but its technical and economic potential is almost fully exploited. Therefore one goal is to increase the amount of energy generated from non-hydroelectric sources. Good opportunities exist for biomass, windenergy and geothermal sources. [EC, EBRD]
Hydropower
Current Status of Hydropower
Hydropower is the only RES that has been utilized to a considerable extent for electricity generation. Water accumulates in approximately 50 large reservoirs, with capacities ranging from 424 thousand to 60.4 thousand m3. The uses range from drinking and industrial water supply to irrigation and electricity generation. The total installed capacity of larger commercial HPPs is about 1.937 MWe while a total of 63 MEe is generated by small HPPs. Furthermore, the National Energy Strategy envisages the rehabilitation of the older HPPs.
Hydropower Energy Resource Potential
Allthough the biggest share of the hydro-potential is already developed and accessible, there is still an untapped potential of approximately 212 MW for small HPP. [Enerdata,EBRD]
Bioenergy
Current Status of Biomass Energy
Currently, biomass accounts for 4 % of the calculated total consumption. The majority of biomass energy consumption exists in rural areas, where fuelwood, followed by residential consumption of wood briquettes produced from forest wastes and sawmill byproducts amount to ca. 2 million m3 per annum. In addition, wastes generated from agricultural and farming activities are produced in large quantities. A number of organizations in the private and not-for-profit sector are performing feasibility studies in this area. Local Universities, such as the Agricultural University of Plovdiv and the Forestry University of Sofia have also spearheaded research and have both curricula and research activities on the use of biomass.
Biofuel
Since Bulgaria became a member of the European Union in 2007 it has to comply with the EU Directive on the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport. This requires a share of 5.75 % of biofuels in the fuels used in the transport sector until 2010. Energy crops used as raw material for bioethanol are sugar beet, wheat and maize. Biodiesel is generated from rapeseed and sunflower.
Indicative targets for Bulgaria:
year | indicative target % | biofuel, tonnes | required area, ha |
|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 2 | 43,241 | 57,574 |
2010 | 5.75 | 166,787 | 164,086 |
2015 | 10 | 292,608 | 438,39 |
Biomass Energy Resource Potential
There is a large potential to utilise biomass as an energy source. 60% of the overall land area consists of arable and agricultural lands, and approximately 30% is forest cover. The country has the possibility to capitalize on the generation of landfill biogas (over 3 Mt of municipal solid waste per year) and other biogas sources. [managenergy, REEEP, EBRD]
Wind energy
Current Status of Wind Energy
There are 119 weather stations in Bulgaria that register wind velocity and direction. Data going back to more than 30 years is available and the country has historical experience with utilizing wind energy for water pumping applications. Still, in 2007 the generation of energy from wind power plants is negligible.
A country wide wind-atlas is available. The wind-atlas identifies three main areas with annual average wind speeds in excess of 9 m/s, two areas with more than 7m/s, and several areas with wind speeds between 4.5 - 7 m/s. The data were all measured 10m above ground. According to the wind atlas, the most promising regions are the northern Black Sea coast, the central mountain range, and the Rhodop mountains in the southwest.
Wind Energy Resource Potential
Nevertheless there is good potential for expanding the exploitation of wind resources. Since hydropower is already well developed, numerous wind power plant projects are currently being initialized and realized.
On the Northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast a joint project of Geo-Power Bulgaria and AES Corporation was put into practice.
Sveti Nikola Wind Farm has an installed capacity of some 200 MW, which equals a CO2 emission offset of 500,000 tons CO2 a year. [EBRD, REEEP]
Solar energy
Current Status of Solar Energy
The annual mean radiation for Bulgaria is 4.2 kWh/m2/day. According to data by the Ministry of Economy and Energy the maximum possible hours of sunlight per year amount to approximately 4,448 (resulting in 2150 h average annual sunshine duration). From 1977 - 1990, the Government developed an energy efficiency program for the utilization of solar collectors in many of the state owned hotels and holiday villages, mainly at the Black Sea Coast. The total installed capacity of Solar Collectors through this program had initially amounted to about 17.5 MWt , or 50,000 m2. However, only half of the around 20.000 m2 of solar collectors installed along th Black Sea Coast are still operating. Of the 30.000 m2 of solar collectors installed throughout the country, at industrial sites and public buildings, only 8% are still operating, the rest is decaying.
As far as photovoltaics is concerned, only experimental and prototypical projects are existing. For a centralized system (photovoltaic power plant) connected to the national electricity grid the price of electricity produced is still very high and therefore not competitive. (Only thin-layer photovoltaic cells can compete with conventional systems).
Solar Energy Resource Potential
Although the potential of solar radiation is considerable, there are significant differences in sunlight intensity in different regions. The Renewable Energy Resource Assessment by the EBRD comes to the conclusion, that hot water production and warm air solar heating - the latter to be used in a broad range of agricultural and forestry applications such as crop drying - are the most feasible uses. A number of companies in the private sector are engaged in preliminary research and pilot projects.
Electricity generation from photovoltaics could become considerable, if subsidies were envisaged for those technologies or if the price of conventional sources increases.
Current costs for electricity produced from
- Photovoltaics: 0.294 – 0.245 USD/kWh
- Conventional: 0.06 USD/kWh
Geothermal Energy
Current Status of Geothermal Energy
Bulgaria has a sizable reserve of geothermal energy and is rich in low enthalpy geothermal waters. The utilization of geothermal energy has already been researched on since the early 1930. Today there are more than 840 explored wells/springs with temperature up to 103 °C in about 140 sites. These sources are public property and the most substantial sources are listed in the Water Act.
At present in Bulgaria the installed capacity of geothermal direct-use systems is about 94.5 MWth. Currently a large amount of geothermal energy is used for balneology and swimming pools. A rather small capacity is installed for building heating systems (including heat pumps) and greenhouse heating systems.
A number of state organizations are engaged in research concerning the exploitation of these resources for energy purposes. The legislation allows foreign investments in this field.
Geothermal Energy Resource Potential
Estimated theoretical potential for direct-use geothermal systems (for already known sources) is about 4000 GWh/year, technical potential is not less than 3000 GWh/year. [MEE(RES), EBRD]
Support Mechanisms and feed-in conditions for electricity from renewable energy sources
The national policy and regulatory framework for RES are formulated in the current Energy Law and Energy Efficiency Act. RES are considered priority and are preferentially treated both towards the purchase electricity prices and towards the obligatory purchase of RES electricity by transmission and/or distribution companies. The Energy and Energy Efficiency Act sets following advantages towards RES:
- No license is required for the generation of electricity from RES with a capacity of up to 5 MW and for thermal energy production.
- The energy distribution company is obliged to purchase electric energy generated from RES with a capacity up to 10 MW.
- Preferential prices are set for electricity generated utilizing RES.
The proposed legislation providing for a system of Green Certificates, which would replace the current system of preferential tariffs, is still under discussion.
Currently, the following preferential tariffs are fixed as follows:
Technology | EURO /MWh 1 |
|---|---|
1excl. of VAT |
|
Small Hydropower (<10 MW) | 43,55 |
Wind Power (< 2250 full load hours) | 89,51 |
Wind Power (> 2250 full load hours) | 79,79 |
Photovoltaic (< 5 kW) | 400,00 |
Photovoltaic (> 5 kW) | 367,3 |
Cogeneration Biomass (< 5 MW) | 94,1 |
Cogeneration Biomass (agricultural residues, loppings etc.) (< 5 MW) | 110,00 |
Cogeneration Biomass (energy crops, e.g. miscanthus, etc.) (< 5 MW) | 82,9 |
Cogeneration (Gas) | 43,55 |
Sales price of the national utility to public energy suppliers | 31,29 |
These tariffs are currently confirmed for only one year. In the future, producers of electricity from RES shall be able to conclude long term purchase contracts. [AEA, EBRD]
