The Bulgarian energy regulator said it has licensed the Independent Bulgarian
Energy Exchange, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy
Holding (BEH), to run the country's electricity trading market.
The
Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange was granted a 10-year licence to operate
the country's power exchange, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission
(SEWRC) said in a notice on its website.
The company plans to invest a
total of 1.4 million levs ($986,000/716,000 euro) by 2018, the regulator said,
adding that its investment programme envisages launching a day-ahead market by
the end of the year.
The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange's
investment programme will be financed with own sources or a loan from its parent
company, it added.
For 2014 the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange has
earmarked 717,000 levs in investments, as the bulk - 613,000 levs - would go for
the purchase and upgrade of a power trading platform.
Two years later, in
2016, the company plans to invest 600,000 levs in a new market coupling platform
which would make possible intra-day trade.
The Independent Bulgarian
Energy Exchange was registered in the beginning of 2014 with a capital of 50,000
levs.
Another startup, the Bulgarian Energy Exchange AD (BEE), too
applied in November for a permit to operate the country's power exchange after
state-owned grid operator ESO withdrew its application in October without any
explanation. Business news website dnevnik.bg reported on Friday that SEWRC had
rejected BEE's licence application because its business plan was
incomplete.