Bulgaria
is undergoing a boom in the renewable energy sector
that experts warn could see an influx of dodgy investment and actually end up
doing more harm than good for the environment.
And the government – the main driver
behind the boom – is taking note.
This month it imposed a half-year
moratorium on new “green” energy projects in a bid to sift out those with
serious financing and prevent a vital
Black Sea
bird migration
route from being built over with wind farms.
“Too many tickets have been sold for this
show,” Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov told an investors’ forum
earlier this month. “We need to get the sector in order,” he said.
The number of “green” energy projects in
Bulgaria
has exploded from almost nil just a few years ago to
a proposed 12,000 megawatts from wind farms, solar energy parks and small
hydropower stations, a government expert said.
That figure is equal to
Bulgaria
’s current installed capacity and would be impossible
to handle by the grid.
Experts agree that many of the planned
projects will never actually come to fruition due to a lack of funding.
The current boom originates in a European
Union-wide agreement under which
Bulgaria
has said 16 percent of electricity consumption will
come from renewable energy sources by 2020 compared with under 8 percent now.
The government has ordered the national
electricity company and private utilities to connect all green-power capacity
to the grid as soon as it is up and running and buy power generated in this way
at fixed preferential prices.
With such attractive incentives in place,
investors – many still smarting from the burst bubble in
Bulgaria
’s construction sector – appear to see the renewable
energy sector as a sure-fire return on their money. Operators have already
connected some 350 MW from wind turbines and solar batteries and signed
preliminary contracts to connect a further 1,451 MW.
This will practically fill the whole
capacity of the network, said Georgy Mikov, executive director of national
electricity company NEK.
Moreover, NEK estimates show that about
2,000 MW of green sources would be sufficient for
Bulgaria
to meet its 16 percent green-power target by 2020.
(from
E-Kathimerini)