Energy in Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
World energy resources and consumption
]World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growthEnergy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism. Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends...
and electricity
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
production, consumption and import in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
Although Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
is not very rich in natural fuels such as coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
, it has very well developed energy sector which is of crucial importance for the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and the whole South Eastern Europe. Bulgaria is a major producer and exporter of electricity in the region and plays an important role for the energy balance in the Balkans. The country's strategic geographical location makes it a major hub for transit and distribution of oil and gas from Russia to Western Europe and other Balkan states.
Energy sector holding
To improve the corporate management and supervision of the energy sector, on 13 February 2008 the Government of Bulgaria decided to set up a state-owned energy holding company Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD. The holding company composes of gas company BulgargazBulgargaz
Bulgargaz is a Bulgarian natural gas distributing company, the largest in the country. It is a subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD. The holding company was established on 18 September 2008 and Bulgargaz became its daughter company. In November 2009, the Bulgarian Government decided to list...
, power company NEK EAD
NEK EAD
Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania NEK is the Bulgarian national electricity distributing company also being the second largest company in Bulgaria...
, Kozloduy nuclear power plant
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria situated north of Sofia and east of Kozloduy, a town on the Danube river, near the border with Romania. It is the country's only nuclear power plant and the largest in the region...
, Maritza-Iztok II thermal power plant
Maritsa Iztok Complex
The Maritsa Iztok Complex is the largest energy complex in South Eastern Europe. It is located in Stara Zagora Province, south-central Bulgaria. It consists of three lignite-fired thermal power stations. The complex is located in a large lignite coal basin, which includes several mines, enrichment...
, and the Mini Maritza Iztok (Maritza Iztok mines). The state will hold a 100% stake in the holding company.
Coal mining
The country has extensive deposits of coal but these are mostly ligniteLignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
. The reserves of lignite coal are estimated to 4.5 billion tons and they are located in the Maritsa Iztok Coal Basin (around 70%), Sofia Coal Basin and Lom coalfield. The reserves of brown coal are 800 million tons with major deposits near Pernik
Pernik
Pernik is a city in western Bulgaria with a population of 81,052 . It is the main city of Pernik Province and lies on both banks of the Struma River in the Pernik Valley between the Viskyar, Vitosha and Golo Bardo mountains.Originally the site of a Thracian fortress founded in the 4th century BC,...
, Bobov Dol
Bobov Dol
Bobov Dol is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Kyustendil Province. Bovov Dol lies near the geographic centre of the Balkan Peninsula and is known for its coal mines and thermal power plant...
and Cherno More mines. The reserves of anthracite are slightly more than 1.2 billion tons but more than 95% of these are located in the Dobruja
Dobruja
Dobruja is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast...
Coal Basin at depth of some 1.5 km and at this stage cannot be exploited. There are several minor oil and gas deposits in Northern Bulgaria.
Power production
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, which has a population nearly three times larger than Bulgaria, produced 51.7 billion kW·h in the same year). In production per capita, the country is in fourth place in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Nuclear power
Bulgaria has the Kozloduy Nuclear Power PlantKozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria situated north of Sofia and east of Kozloduy, a town on the Danube river, near the border with Romania. It is the country's only nuclear power plant and the largest in the region...
with six reactors, out of which only two are online (4 reactors were taken off-line in 2004 and 2007), with a combined capacity of 3,760 MW and covers about 40% of country's energy demand. A second power plant (Belene Nuclear Power Plant
Belene Nuclear Power Plant
The Belene Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant currently under construction 3 km from Belene and 11 km from Svishtov in Pleven Province, northern Bulgaria, near the Danube River...
) is currently under construction by Belene
Belene
Belene is a town in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belene Municipality. The town is situated on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the town of Svishtov...
. It will consist of two reactors of 1,000 MW each.
Thermal power
Thermal power plants are also of high importance with most of the capacity concentrated in the Maritsa Iztok ComplexMaritsa Iztok Complex
The Maritsa Iztok Complex is the largest energy complex in South Eastern Europe. It is located in Stara Zagora Province, south-central Bulgaria. It consists of three lignite-fired thermal power stations. The complex is located in a large lignite coal basin, which includes several mines, enrichment...
. The largest TPPs are:
-
- "Maritsa Iztok 2" - 1,450 MW
- "VarnaVarna Power PlantVarna Thermal Power Plant is located on the northern shore of the Lake Varna near the village of Ezerovo at 12 km to the west of Varna, eastern Bulgaria. It was bought by the Czech energy company CEZ Group....
" - 1,260 MW - "Maritsa Iztok 3" - 870 MW
- "Bobov DolBobov Dol Power PlantBobov Dol Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired power plant situated in the lands of the village Golemo Selo near the town of Bobov Dol, Kyustendil Province in western Bulgaria....
" - 630 MW - "Ruse IztokRuse Iztok Power PlantRuse Iztok Thermal Power Plant is a power plant situated near the city of Ruse, Bulgaria. It has an installed capacity of 400 MW. It is owned by Holding Slovenske elektrarne....
" - 600 MW - "Maritsa Iztok 1" - 500 MW
There is a €1.4 billion project for additional 670 MW for the latter and €900 million for additional 600 MW for "Maritsa Iztok 3".
Other minor TPPs are: "Republika"-180 MW, "Sofia"-130 MW, "Sofia Iztok"-120 MW, "Plovdiv"-60 MW, "Pleven"-40 MW, "Pernik"-30 MW, "Sliven"-30MW and others.
Hydropower
Due to the limited hydro-potential of the country (excluding the DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
), the importance of hydro power is not so big. There are currently 87 hydro power plants with a combined capacity of 1,980 MW, most of them being located in the southern and south-western mountainous parts of Bulgaria. The largest Hydro Cascades are: "Belmeken-Sestrimo"-700 MW, "Dospat-Vacha"-670 MW, "Batashki Vodnosilov Pat"-220 MW. Important HPPs on the Arda river are: "Kardzhali"-106 MW; "Ivailovgrad" - 104 MW and "Studen Kladenets" - 60 MW. There is €65 million project for their modernization.
Three major Hydroelectric power plants are under construction: "Gorna Arda" - 160 MW; "Sreden Iskar" - 93MW, €60 million; "Tsankov Kamak"-90MW, €220 million.
Alternative energy
Large-scale prospects for wind energy development have spurred the construction of numerous wind farms, making Bulgaria one of the fastest-growing wind energy producers in the world.Energy transit
Several major energy transportation routes are to be passed through Bulgaria. The Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipelineBurgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline
The Burgas–Alexandroupoli pipeline is an oil pipeline project for transportation of Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupoli. It would be an alternative route for Russian oil, bypassing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles...
and the Burgas-Vlore pipeline
AMBO pipeline
AMBO pipeline is a planned oil pipeline from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas via the Republic of Macedonia to the Albanian Adriatic port of Vlorë.-History:The pipeline was proposed already in 1993...
are oil transportation projects through Bulgaria to bypass Turkish straits in transportation of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n and Caspian
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
oil from the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
.
Bulgaria is a transit country for Russian natural gas to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. New natural gas transit projects through Bulgaria are the South Stream pipeline
South Stream
South Stream is a proposed gas pipeline to transport Russian natural gas to the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further to Greece, Italy and Austria. The project is seen as rival to the planned Nabucco pipeline...
and the Nabucco pipeline
Nabucco Pipeline
The Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March in Austria diversifying natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe. The pipeline attempts to lessen European dependence on Russian energy...
. The South Stream pipeline would transport Russian natural across the Black Sea from the Russian coast of Beregoyava to Burgas from where it would continue to the north-west to Central Europe and to the south-west to Greece and Italy. The Nabucco pipeline would transport Caspian and Middle East gas through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria to Central Europe.