CORRECTED - Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association Calls for Increased Govt Support

Bulgaria’s solar energy sector needs stronger government support and incentives in order to lure investors, the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association chief said on Thursday.

“Not only profitability, but predictability is crucial for investors. That is why it is very important for Bulgaria to adopt proper fixed feed-in tariffs for energy generated by photovoltaic power stations, because this will give investors a clearer perspective,” Nikola Gazdov told SeeNews on the sidelines of Solar Balkans 2011 conference held in Sofia.

The Bulgarian parliament is expected to hold a final vote on a new law on renewable energy sources next week, Gazdov added.

“We expect the new feed-in tariffs to improve photovoltaic projects bankability,” Martin Mayr, head of the UniCredit Leasing Renewable Energy Competence Centre, said at the conference.

“But we hope the tariffs will be reasonable. If they are too high it will lead to a huge investment rush and the government will be forced to put a break on the market,” Mayr added.

The solar energy sector in Bulgaria will develop rapidly through 2020 with proper legislation and political support, said Gazdov. “The goal of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association is 12% of all energy in Europe to be produced by photovoltaic sources by 2020. We support this goal and believe that Bulgaria can do that, with proper support from the authorities."

“Currently, energy produced by photovoltaic sources in Bulgaria is well below 0.5%” he added.

According to Gazdov, in the long run energy from renewable sources will be significantly cheaper for Bulgaria than energy produced from traditional sources, because of the rapid technological advances in the renewable energy sector.

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