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Update: December 2012
The European Photovoltaic Association (EPIA) has asked the European Union to take action against member states including Bulgaria by curtailing support to the renewables industry.
The Bulgaria’s State Commission on Energy and Water Regulation has released a preliminary report of feed-in tariff prices for renewable energy sources, stating a 5-39% cut of the feed-in tariff for PV.
Update: July 2012
The Bulgarian government has announced a 50% cut to solar feed-in tariffs, having only approved a new FiT in April.
Update: April 2012
The Bulgarian government approved its renewable energy legislation on March 28,2012, with approval published in its official journal on April 10, 2012. The new regulations also require Bulgarian electricity system operator EAD to publish details about newly installed PV capacity on a semi-annual basis. Bulgarian FiTs currently range from €0.309 kWh for rooftop systems to €0.248 per kWh for ground-mounted systems above 200kW.
Bulgaria currently imports around 70% of its energy from Russia. Legislation is calling for renewable energy generation to increase from 10% to 20% by 2020. At present solar potential exists mainly in the East and South of Bulgaria, while the rest of the country concentrates on other sources of renewable energy, such as wind and biomass.
The Bulgarian State Energy and Water Regulation Commission enacted, as of June 2011, new tariff levels for renewable energies included in the feed-in framework and implemented a renewed classification system for solar PV installations. The feed-in tariff presently stands at $0.33. Tariffs only apply to renewable energy plants whose construction started after May 4th and is completed by July 1st 2012, range over a 12-year period for wind and hydropower generation and over a 20-year period for other plants.
The FiT rate is derived from a portion of 80% of the average electricity price in the previous year. A variable surcharge is added that cannot be less than 95% of the previous year’s level. That means the PV FiT could also increase as electricity prices have risen sharply in Bulgaria in the past four years.
Future annual tariff rounds will take effect in June of each year.
Bulgaria is expected to increase the amount of solar installations in the future, and with the yearly review of the FiT rate one should expect to see a lot more interest in this energy as the country works out the best policy to fit the market.
