11 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY CoNSUMPTIoN AND ENERGY PoVERTY …
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A recent assessment of energy policy in Bulgaria highlights the steady
progress of the country regarding the greening of its energy and economy, being one of the first EU members to meet its 2020 targets for
RES (Center for the Study of Democracy 2017a). The report highlights
four main long-term energy risk factors:
• Energy poverty: 41% of households are not able to keep their
homes adequately warm and 29% have arrears on utility bills;
• Energy intensity of the economy: it remains above the EU average
despite continuous improvements;
• Low level of diversification: especially in the natural gas sector, which depends on Russia as the single source of gas supplied
through a single route; and
• Bad governance: corruption, bad policy choices and incompetency
have considerably contributed to the recent energy price increases
in the country.
The largest player in the electricity market is Bulgarian Energy Holding
(BEH), which owns a diverse group of companies engaged in electricity generation, supply and transmission. Electricity is mainly generated
by coal burning power plants (43% in 2017) and nuclear power (36%).
Hydropower supplies 8% of electricity, while additional 8% is generated
by wind, solar power and biomass (Global Legal Insights 2019).
District heating networks exist in 12 Bulgarian cities, serving in total
about 600,000 households. Toplofikatsia Sofia, which provides district
heating in the capital, is 100% owned by the Municipality of Sofia, but
the central heating companies in Plovdiv and Varna (second and third
largest cities) are privately owned. Regardless of the ownership, all district heating companies are local monopolies. Most use natural gas as
fuel, although a few still use coal.
The rise in renewable energy in the overall mix has been mainly driven
by an increase in the use of solid biomass, with a rise in wind and solar
PV capacity also noticeable. Electricity from RES has been supported
since 2007 through a preferential feed-in tariff scheme, the obligation
for energy distributors to connect green energy producers to the grid,
and the creation of long-term loan guarantees for banks financing wind
and solar power plants (Boonstra et al. 2015).
119
A recent assessment of energy policy in Bulgaria highlights the steady
progress of the country regarding the greening of its energy and economy, being one of the first EU members to meet its 2020 targets for
RES (Center for the Study of Democracy 2017a). The report highlights
four main long-term energy risk factors:
• Energy poverty: 41% of households are not able to keep their
homes adequately warm and 29% have arrears on utility bills;
• Energy intensity of the economy: it remains above the EU average
despite continuous improvements;
• Low level of diversification: especially in the natural gas sector, which depends on Russia as the single source of gas supplied
through a single route; and
• Bad governance: corruption, bad policy choices and incompetency
have considerably contributed to the recent energy price increases
in the country.
The largest player in the electricity market is Bulgarian Energy Holding
(BEH), which owns a diverse group of companies engaged in electricity generation, supply and transmission. Electricity is mainly generated
by coal burning power plants (43% in 2017) and nuclear power (36%).
Hydropower supplies 8% of electricity, while additional 8% is generated
by wind, solar power and biomass (Global Legal Insights 2019).
District heating networks exist in 12 Bulgarian cities, serving in total
about 600,000 households. Toplofikatsia Sofia, which provides district
heating in the capital, is 100% owned by the Municipality of Sofia, but
the central heating companies in Plovdiv and Varna (second and third
largest cities) are privately owned. Regardless of the ownership, all district heating companies are local monopolies. Most use natural gas as
fuel, although a few still use coal.
The rise in renewable energy in the overall mix has been mainly driven
by an increase in the use of solid biomass, with a rise in wind and solar
PV capacity also noticeable. Electricity from RES has been supported
since 2007 through a preferential feed-in tariff scheme, the obligation
for energy distributors to connect green energy producers to the grid,
and the creation of long-term loan guarantees for banks financing wind
and solar power plants (Boonstra et al. 2015).