site.btaExperts: The Faster Bulgaria Closes Its Coal-fired Plants, the Cheaper Electricity Will Be

The faster Bulgaria closes down its coal-fired plants, the cheaper electricity the country will have, Martin Vladimirov and Konstantsa Rangelova of the Centre for the Study of Democracy told a BTA-hosted news conference on Tuesday.

Coal-fired plants are operating because of the high price of electricity and because they are subsidized by the State with around 1 billion leva annually, but after 2025 this subsidy will become impossible and if the price of electricity falls down, many of the coal-fired plants will have to close down to avoid working at a loss, the expert said.

According to them, the Maritza East 2 thermal power plant and some small private thermal power plants will close down first.

With a fast closure and the replacement of coal-fired plants by RES facilities the price of electricity will grow by 13 per cent by 2030, and with a more gradual closure the price will grow by 55 per cent, said Vladimirov.

He specified that the forecasts were based on wholesale prices throughout 2020.

Lithium-ion batteries are the most suitable for storing energy but the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan lacks an analysis which batteries are more suitable, said Konstantsa Rangelova.

The big project for a battery park, which is worth 1.5 billion leva, is for capacities which are four times larger than those in the US and the experts are skeptical that the Bulgarian industry and administration will tackle these challenges especially against the background of disrupted supplies, said Vladimirov. It is more reasonable if industrial consumers made these investments instead of seeking big solutions for the whole country and spending enormous resources, he added.

Applications for the construction of RES facilities with a capacity of 19,000 MWh have been filed but a large part won't be implemented because of the vague regulatory framework, the cumbersome administrative procedure for connecting to the grid and the immature energy markets. Of these capacities, as little as 120 MWh were connected to the grid in 2021. He recommended reducing expenses for connection to the grid and liberalization of fees. This may unblock the market for small RES facilities (rooftop solar plants), which may generate 5 TWh, one eighth of the annual consumption in the country, the experts said.

New technologies for the generation of energy such as offshore wind farms need a clear regulatory framework. Bulgaria may generate 4.6 GWh from wind farms in the Black Sea, said Vladimirov.