Green energy rush could crash Bulgaria power grid

A rush to cash in on incentives to develop renewable energy projects in Bulgaria could end up in so much new supply it may cause blackouts on the national grid, the operator told Reuters.

Ivan Ayolov, chief executive of the state electricity system operator (ESO) said in an interview the government should impose stricter regulations to bar speculators.

Generous government incentives for electricity produced from wind, solar and biomass has led to an avalanche-like increase in projects that totalled over 11,000 megawatts by September.

"This has to be stopped in an intelligent way, otherwise we face a catastrophe," Ayolov said, adding the situation resembled the Klondike gold rush.

"At this stage the grid is reliable. It's capacity (for new installations) is 1,800 MW. But it is not reliable when it comes to 10,000 MW." ESO runs Bulgaria's high-voltage grids.

Bulgaria like most other former communist member states of the European Union relies mainly on coal and nuclear power to meet its energy needs.

The need to raise green energy share to 16-20% by 2020 to meet EU targets on reducing emissions, has prompted governments in the region to offer preferential prices to attract investors in renewables whose costs are higher than fossil-fuel based power.

This has led to a wind power boom in Bulgaria and Romania. Bulgaria's wind energy capacity connected to the grid jumped to 330 MW so far this year from 103 MW last year.

But the existing power grids cannot cope with the demand for connecting new wind parks and state power utility NEK has already imposed a temporary freeze on connecting turbines in the north-eastern region of Varna.

NEK has warned of possible power outages due to the rising applications for new wind parks.

PRIORITY FOR RENEWABLES

Ayolov said apart from offering incentives, Bulgaria should also have a detailed strategy on increasing renewable energy in a sustainable way that did not put a strain on the power grid.

ESO, therefore, suggests investors pay 5% of the value of their project to the state as a deposit to prove they really intend to realise them, which will separate speculators from serious investors.

Under current legislation, NEK and the three regional power utilities -- Czech CEZ, Austria's EVNVI and Germany's E.ON -- are obliged to give a priority to renewable energy when connecting units to the system. They must also cover all costs to upgrade their grids to link the new capacity.

Source: Reuters, Balkans.com Business News