Bulgaria Revises Energy Plan, Eyes 1,500 MW in Extra Power Export Capacity by 2020

SOFIA (Bulgaria), January 20 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria will aim to boost its electricity export capacity by an additional 1,500 megawatts by 2020 through increased energy efficiency and sharper focus on natural gas and renewables, a redraft of the country's energy strategy indicates.

"The strategy blueprint has three major objectives: power supply reliability, full utilisation of coal and renewable resources and transparent environment for institutions and energy companies," Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said during a round table on Wednesday held to discuss the revised strategy which the government should pass in the coming weeks.

Under the development blueprint, first unveiled in July and then updated with feedback from industry experts, Bulgaria will aim to cut its dependence on Russian gas and take part in EU-backed projects from the so called Southern gas corridor.

The country is also reaffirming its commitment to plans for the deployment of gas interconnections with neighbouring Greece, Serbia, Turkey and Romania as well as to the expansion of its sole gas storage facility in Chiren and the construction of a new one.

Bulgarian authorities have so far named as their priority both the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline project and rival EU-backed scheme Nabucco.

"The only approach is to decide step by step if we should proceed with a certain project," Traikov told reporters at the event.

As for Nabucco, it is indeed a priority, but there are a lot of challenges there, he added.

According to the strategy, the government also plans to support the development of new gas fields, including shale gas sites and deep offshore drilling.

Bulgarian Association Natural Gas (BANG), a lobby group, gave the redraft the thumbs-up.

"The document keeps everything tight and clear, we support the priorities outlined therein, but there is more work to be done if we want to make sure those priorities do not remain only on paper," BANG member Alexander Kozhuharov said during the round table discussion.

Other experts at hand voiced their concern that the ambitious plans may not amount to much more than wishful thinking.

"The risks are for this strategy to end up as little more than good intentions on paper. The programme documents, included in it, should be developed alongside its adoption," Ivanka Dilovska from the Energy Management Institute think-thank said.

"I am doubtful that the energy exchange which the government plans to set up by the end of this year will become operational within the set timeframe as there are no energy companies and power stations that could join it, offering energy at market-based prices," she added.

According to Ruslan Stefanov from local think-thank Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), the most important thing is that the document provides transparency and timely reporting on what has been done, rather that whether all the targets set in it will be met.

"What I can see in this strategy blueprint is that it more or less prioritises the important elements: that [the government will push for] power supply reliability and energy efficiency, but I do not think that everything set out in the project will be realised by 2020," he told SeeNews.

The strategy blueprint also supports the development of new hydro power plants on the Danube, Arda and Mesta rivers as well as nuclear energy projects.

"We will defend before the European institutions our position that the share of nuclear energy should be increased by extending the lifespan of the operational units of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and by adding 2,000 MW of new capacities (i.e. the construction of the second nuclear power plant in Belene or the construction of new Kozloduy units)," the strategy reads.

In 2008, Bulgaria's government hired Russia's Atomstroyexport to build the 2,000 MW nuclear power plant in Belene, on the Danube river.

Since then, however, the project has been hampered by the withdrawal of its strategic investor, Germany's RWE, and a dispute over construction costs.

Kozloduy, also on the Danube, has two operating reactors of 1,000 MW each. It closed a second pair of 440 MW units at the end of 2006 to allay nuclear safety concerns of the European Union. The first pair of 440 MW reactors at the plant was closed down in 2002.

Traikov has already hinted that Bulgaria may step up the construction of a new unit at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, if the Belene project fails to attract investor interest.

($= 0.7429 euro)

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