Solar urban planning

The state of the art in

Entity: Djadadji EOOD

Developers Arjan Visser, Genady Kondarev

Date: 08.02.2010

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INDICE

Solar urban planning ...... 1 1 Political, Legal and Economic Framework ...... 3 1.1 Describe the National policy in force regarding energy and renewable energy technologies ...... 3 1.2 National thermal building energy certification or building regulations ...... 6 1.3 Existing national renewable/solar thermal/solar photovoltaic ordinances...... 7 1.4 Describe the available subsidies at national level to solar technologies adoption ...... 7 1.5 Financing mechanisms to solar technologies adoption...... 8 1.6 National barriers hindering solar technologies adoption ...... 9 2 Technical Framework ...... 11 2.1 Existing standards for solar systems and components ...... 11 2.2 Certification and other quality systems for solar systems products...... 11 2.3 Existing certification schemes for solar systems installers and planners...... 11 2.4 Are there R&D Centres working in solar technologies in your country? Please specify which and their working field. How is their interaction with the national solar market? Can they impulse the national solar market? 12 3 Solar Market and Potential...... 13 3.1 Installed solar (thermal/photovoltaic) capacity at national level...... 13 3.2 Effective contribution of solar energy (thermal/photovoltaic) for the national ...... 13 3.3 Technical/economical potential at national level (thermal/photovoltaic)...... 14 3.4 Percentage of energy demand to be covered if such capacity would be reached (thermal/photovoltaic)...... 14 3.5 Are there renewable technologies which are widely diffused in your country and that can therefore contribute in a renewable obligation?...... 15 4 Stakeholders...... 15 4.1 Which are the stakeholders and networks involved in promoting solar urban planning and what is their attitude towards renewables obligation (e.g. are building companies used to renewables)? ...... 15

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1. Political, Legal and Economic Framework

1.1. Describe the National policy in force regarding energy and renewable energy technologies

According to the requirements of the Accession Treaty to EU Bulgaria has got the goal to produce 11% of its final energy consumption by renewable energy in 2010 and 16% of in 2020. The natural resources i.e. the potential for the development of energy from solar, wind, biomass, biogas and geothermal is large. Still (as many other EU member states) Bulgaria has not shown to be able to meet the 2010 target for renewable energy producing less than 8% of its electricity by RES, mainly from hydropower. Because of the steep decline of industrial production after the changes of 1989, Bulgaria is able to declare a very large reduction in the carbon emissions nowadays vis-à-vis the baseline. Moreover, as a country in difficult economic situation the targets of Bulgaria are related to the emissions of 1988 and not 1990 as the rest of the countries.

The main legislative acts regarding RES and particularly solar in Bulgaria include: In force since | Regulation Description amendments This law aims to regulate relations that promote the 19.06.2007 production and consumption of electricity, heat and / or 14.11.2008 cooling from renewable energy sources and alternative (amendment sources of energy production and consumption of through the biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport. Energy Renewable and Alternative Applicable to solar this act imposes: Efficiency Act) Energy Sources and Biofuels Act 1.priority accession of each producer of electricity from (RES and AEI act) = RES and AEI to the grid; 2.compulsory purchase of the electricity from RES 3.preferential Feed-In-Tariffs (FITs) on the purchase of 1 power output; 4.accession period not longer than requested by the developer deadline for commissioning the energy facility. Amendments through the EE Act 14.11.2008

1 http://www.mi.government.bg/eng/norm/rdocs/mdoc.html?id=212967

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Increasing the duration of the long-term contracts to 25 years - for electricity produced by solar energy (previously 12 years) Extension of the accession period of new plants until 31.12.2015 (previously 31.12.2010) 6 June 2007 This act aims to regulate the public relations with regard to the implementation of the government policy for energy efficiency raising and providing energy efficient services. Applicable to solar, this Act imposes: Energy Efficiency Act (EE Act) = Investment projects for new buildings with built-up area of over 1 000 m must comply with opportunities to use: 2 1.decentralized systems of production and energy consumption from renewable energy sources; 2.installations or central heating installation and cooling; However, no specific role is created for building integrated PV or solar thermal.

This law and the applicable regulations promote the 24.10.1997 development of larger investment projects, where large last amendment scale renewable energy projects have been especially Investment Promotion Act = targeted. The project list includes large scale PV plants 2.06.2009 and wind farms. An investment needs to be at least 16 3 million Euro. With a granted ‘investment class A

certificate, the project can receive several benefits: Regulations for the Application of 1. shorter deadlines on approvals and permits by the Investment Promotion Act – the state administration (1/3 shorter than the required by the law) 2. sale or restricted disposal on property (onerous 4 constitution of terminable real right) – state or municipal owned, without a tender and on price that reflects the market levels or is under the

2 http://www.mi.government.bg/eng/norm/rdocs/mdoc.html?id=190688

3http://www.investbg.government.bg/upfs/8/Investment%20Promotion%20Act(amended%20and%20supplemented,%20SG%2 0No.%2041,%2002.06.2009).doc 4 http://www.investbg.government.bg/upfs/8/Pravilnik_ZNI_ENG_17.03.2009.doc

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market levels; 3. sale or restricted disposal of land (onerous constitution of terminable real right) – state or municipal owned, without a tender on prices equal or under the market levels with developed incoming publicly owned infrastructure; 4. financial aid on the development of infrastructure (from the closest existing element of this kind of infrastructure to the borders of the estate) – defined as a possibility and not as an obligation in the law 5. financial aid for education and professional training of employees. .

Before December 5 2010, Bulgaria is engaged to transpose Directive 2009/28/EO. This Directive is defining stricter targets for the production and consumption of RES in Bulgaria as well as better definition of responsibilities for control and monitoring of the target achievement.5 Some of the features of the new legislation are expected to be: 1. Coordination of responsibilities of national, regional and local administrative bodies issuing permits and conducting licensing and certification procedures. 2. Identification of all technical specifications that must be met by the facilities and energy systems in order that the projects may benefit from the support schemes. 3. Simplified and streamlined procedures for obtaining permits for small projects and decentralized facilities for manufacturing energy from RES 4. Stimulating local and regional authorities to use heat and cooling from RES. 5. Introducing a requirement in legislation for minimum levels of RES in new or renovated buildings – as of 31st December 2014. 6. New public buildings and basic repaired such will act of model in terms of energy use of RES 7. Promote use of efficient technologies for heat and cooling from RES

According to building regulations, the State recognizes two types of solar facilities6: 1. building integrated (roofs and facades) and 2. ‘self depending’ sites i.e. PV farms

5 Information by Kostadinka Todorova – Head of department. Environmental protection and Energy Efficiency at Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism – MEET 6 http://www.mee.government.bg/energy/energy_doc/Slunsheva_energia_ENG.pdf – Investment process solar energy

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1.Building integrated solar-thermal and PV installed on the facades and roofs of the constructions are considered as an integrated part of the construction and not considered as a separate part of the building, where no distinction is further made in how exactly the solar energy product is attached. They are installed without the necessity of permission, see article113 from the Regulation No. 5 for rules and regulations for space planning.

2. ‘Self depending’ sites planned to be built directly on a piece of land for which it is required to pass the entire process of any building project – change of purpose of land, if it is not industrial; inclusion of the plot in the urban plan of the relevant municipality if it is not industrial land;

According to an established solar energy installation company in Bulgaria7, no matter what the scale of a project is, there are number of procedures that have to be fulfilled in order to get a grid connection. These requirements stem both from the Space Development Act and the conditions for acquisition of new energy producers. Such as project design, inquiry for conditions for acquisition from the grid operator, preliminary contract and a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Each miss within the requirements by the entrepreneur may lead to a delay of up to two months before the next step can be undertaken (e.g. improperly filed document, scheme, etc.). PV installers also claim that grid operators set a condition for households that they use the same measurement device for input and for output to the grid and thus only the excess energy is paid under the FIT. This is usually avoided by the entrepreneurs by registration of a company and formal rent of the roof or facade used for the installation which enables them to sell the entire quantity of produced electricity to the grid operator. The entire process for even a small installation to become operational may take up to one year and requires about eight permitting documents. This is supposed to be changed with the new law from 2010. However, government experts cannot confirm how this will be implemented exactly. It is still not known whether the permitting procedure will be lighter for households that produce the energy for their own use and sell the excess.

1.2. National thermal building energy certification or building regulations

The thermal building energy certification requirements are defined in the Energy Efficiency Act8. However the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency Act does not provide any requirement for direct integration of solar solutions in the urban environment.

7 APEX Solar, telephone call, December 2009 8 http://www.mee.government.bg/eng/norm/rdocs/mdoc.html?id=190688

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1.3. Existing national renewable/solar thermal/solar photovoltaic ordinances

Apart from the above mentioned acts, there are no specific ordinances on national or municipal level that require or promote the use of solar energy.

The municipality of the City Etropole in the province of Sofia has approved a Municipal Program on Energy Efficiency for the period 2009-2015.9 This program envisions the research of the solar potential in the municipality, especially the potential for instalment of solar water heaters and the energy saving by it, including solar water heaters to heat the local swimming pool.

The use and integration of renewables in the urban environment is mentioned in couple of other municipal documents (without being concrete on solar) by Municipalities like Lom, Sevlievo, Karlovo – still none of these documents offers any measures, or concrete policies to stimulate the development of renewable energy solutions in the cities and the villages. Sofia Municipality envisaged the development of a Short-term Municipal program on Development of Renewable Energy – the program is included in the Short term Development program for Sofia 2008- 201110. The initiative has no outcome to date. In the second part of this program it is at least planned to use solar thermal heaters in the schools, kindergartens and the social houses aiming to achieve implementation in 2011.

1.4 Describe the available subsidies at national level to solar technologies adoption

Some of the EU structural funds are designed to support RES. Notably are the Rural Development Fund and the Structural Fund ‘Competitiveness’. The Rural Development Fund supports technical improvements (including solar thermal or PV systems) for companies whose agricultural activity account to over 50% of the total activities for the previous year. The grant may cover up to 50% of the project costs but no larger than 1.5 m EUR. The program ‘Competitiveness’ provides aid to non- agricultural companies – the share of the grant for SMEs may reach up to 65-75% of the project costs, for large enterprises the grant is up to 50% but no larger than 2 m EUR.

Further, the EBRD has two so called Credit Lines running. The Credit Lines use ‘incentive grants’ from the KIDSF (Kozloduy Decommissioning Fund) that is to cushion the loss of production capacity after

9 http://www.etropolebg.com/joomla/NAR/Programa%20en.efect.-2009.pdf 10 http://www.sofia.bg/programaupkm.asp – p. 2.1 and 2.2

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switching off the oldest reactors of the nuclear power station in Kozloduy as condition for EU entry. These support schemes will be explained more detailed below.

The first EBRD credit line, or Bulgarian Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Credit Line (BEERECL)11, is a scheme run by local banks, and with the help of experts, where (larger) RES-E, RES-H&C and industrial energy efficiency investment projects are credited. On successful completion, the applicant can keep 15-20% of the loan as incentive. Only registered companies can apply. Basically all RES-H and RES-H&C can benefit from this scheme, although most investors in solar PV farm schemes were not successful (EBRD most likely did not want to support large PV projects with a FiT in place in Bulgaria), but some solar thermal projects (hotels) were realized. Applications are received and granted continuously. The loans are up to EUR 2.5 million. On that basis, the incentive can be maximally EUR 500,000. The budget has been extended to be used till H2-2011 with EUR 55 million, while still EUR 13 million remains from the original budget. Project applications are limited by the maximum loan size, not the installed capacity. The funds from the first credit line are disbursed through several local participating banks.

There is a separate credit line of EBRD for households – REECL – Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line12. It operates in a similar way as BEERECL, thus local banks, with grants of from EUR 350 to EUR 2000. The possible solar solutions that can be finances through this credit line are solar thermal systems with or without associated space heating and hot water storage systems.

Structural funds Some of the EU structural funds are designed to support RES. Notably is the Rural Development Fund and the Structural Fund ‘Competitiveness’ include a substantial number of ‘priority axis’ for the support of RES, but most of these have not yet opened. About EUR 100 million would be made available for RES (and a same amount for energy efficiency) under the Operational Fund Competitiveness. A priority axis under the RDP that had already seen several rounds of applications, received over 100 applications for solar PV projects. In October 2009, none of the applications were yet rewarded and applicants suspect that authorities are reconsidering the funding of solar PV projects under the Rural Development Programme.

1.5 Financing mechanisms to solar technologies adoption

A system of preferential tariffs (or Feed-in tariffs) is in place in Bulgaria. The FIT introduced for electricity production from RES is usually for larger solar PV projects the only financial mechanism. The tariffs together with the 25 years obligatory buy out of all produced energy by any solar installation

11 http://www.beerecl.com/cms/?q=en 12 http://www.reecl.org/indexen.php

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smaller than 5 MWp for the period 1st April 2009 – 31st March 2010 are as follows: Up to 5 kWp – 823 BGN/MWh / ~ 415 EUR/MWh Up to 5 MWp – 755 BGN/MWh / ~ 380 EUR/MWh Over 5 MWp – also 755 BGN/MWh / ~ 380 EUR/MWh but require licensing from National Electricity Company.

The FiT is basically calculated by adding two components: first, 80% of the average market price for electricity for the previous year (p) plus a bonus component (B), not less than 95% of the bonus for the previous year:

FiT= p * 0.8 + B

The bonus component B is supposed to be calculated in such a way that it allows a RES project to payback within a bankable period – e.g. less than 10 years. The observation as well as the attempts of a number of organizations to gain clarity over the exact financial model how this component is exactly calculated is still in vain. The law in force is guaranteeing the existing producers that they will benefit from any future increase of FiT and in case of decrease – the decrease cannot exceed 5% of the bonus component for the previous year (while the expectations are that the average market price would only be able to grow). The expectations of ever increasing prices for the average price of the electricity in the upcoming years are supposed to give some security to the producers but in practice often the financial models in the worst case scenario are showing that the projects come within the edge of their possibility to be bankable.

1.6 National barriers hindering solar technologies adoption

The critical trade balance of Bulgaria 1. Bureaucracy – the regime makes no difference between micro and large scale facilities; even household systems are required to pass lengthy procedures that may take up to one year and about eight permitting documents to obtain. 2. Bulgaria has not defined target and incentives for solar-thermal such as minimum requirement for Solar water heater and air conditioning in new and refurbished buildings; 3. Most residential buildings are owner occupied, while home owners are usually not organized as they are not obliged to be organized by law in a home owners’ associations as in other EU member states. This is one of the reasons solar water heaters are not a common view on the rooftops of prefabricated apartment blocks (‘panel blocks’), as a common decision is necessary to make any installations on the roof. People in these buildings have different income levels so if anyone does not want to participate for financial or other reasons this

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usually dooms the whole initiative. A possible solution to that is implementation of State or municipal policy that requires minimum levels of solar energy portion in the energy needs at least with every new building. 4. High price for bank credits, lack of business culture – interest rates vary from 10 to 12%, even if a project is funded with own capital 6-8 years payback looks unattractive for the regular who is used to think in terms of immediate benefit. The long term benefit after the payback of the systems and their durability is not a strong argument. 5. Inability to introduce Energy Service Company (ESCO) Schemes in the country – ESCO schemes for energy efficiency and renewable energy are a tool with a serious potential for the introduction of energy efficiency and renewable energy including solar thermal, PV and passive in the urban environment. So far, there have been a number of attempts to introduce ESCO schemes in Bulgaria but the scale is negligible. 6. Not transparent FiT estimation for consecutive years– the bonus component of the FiT FiT is calculated by a methodology that is not made public so far. This does not allow the producers of energy from PV to ‘forecast’ the fluctuation of the FiT according to the signals of the market; 7. Lack of interest on regional and municipal level – the only interest declared by the municipalities so far is just in the media – there are no concrete measures taken by municipal and regional authorities for the development of any PV project – e.g. targets for use of solar energy for every new and refurbished building, lending of municipal land for large scale projects, exemption from some municipal taxes in case of solar project development, etc. Still, some municipalities participate in schemes in lending municipal land or rooftops for larger PV plants. 8. A bit unclear in the legislation whether the preferential FiT is applicable for 25 years or that's only for the obligatory buy out – the law is not very clear about that. 9. Many existing producers of renewable energy claim that after the introduction of the new feed- in tariffs and the extension of the contracts from 12 to 25 years the State has not yet reassigned their agreements with the new conditions; 10. No support and legislation for passive building (that may include forms of solar energy). 11. Low prices of energy – Bulgaria has the lowest energy prices in the EU for gas and electricity. The old production facilities ( ) and the nuclear power station provide comparatively inexpensive electricity, people still use their old polluting and inefficient coal stoves to heat their homes and even cook or heat water. This is a negative stimulus for the implementation of any energy efficiency measures or renewable energy solutions. 12. Acquisition problem – the grid, too many investment proposals – the grid cannot take it. The grid operators need to know who is serious; investors complain that they are delayed; also private players need 7-8 permits and a company and formally rent their own roofs in order to be able to export the entire quantity of produced electricity under the current feed in tariff;

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13. Lack of information – people are not well informed about the advantages of integrating solar solutions. They are not aware of the consequences of the climate change. On the financial side – there is a lack of financial argumentation in favour of solar solutions. 14. The networks available to promote solar energy, including the business itself are not proactive enough – e.g. getting in contact with every new building that is under construction to offer the integration of solar technology. 2. Technical Framework

2.1. Existing standards for solar systems and components

Bulgaria has not officially recognized standards for solar technology. There is also no certified institute for monitoring and control of the quality of solar systems. The industry itself has taken the initiative and the companies installing solar PV and SWH offer systems and components that comply with the popular European standards and certificates like:

• For SWH: CE, Solar Key Mark, ISO 9001, TUV, DIN, SPF, CQC, DER BLAUE ENGEL, SRCC, QAC • For PV: IEC, TUV, CE, ISO 9001

Still, these standards are not (yet) widely used, even among solar energy professionals. 2.2. Certification and other quality systems for solar systems products.

Bulgaria does not dispose of any laboratory licensed to certify the quality of PV modules and SWH systems. If a certificate has to be obtained by a producer, usually modules/collectors are sent for certification abroad. In some R & D centres mentioned below, some testing of the produced modules is possible. Local producers use these laboratories for pretesting to check whether their product should be sent to a foreign lab for the certification. 2.3. Existing certification schemes for solar systems installers and planners.

There is no certification system available so far to assess and certify the installers and planners. However the law coming by the end of 2010 plans the adoption and implementation of such certification.

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2.4. Are there R&D Centres working in solar technologies in your country? Please specify which and their working field. How is their interaction with the national solar market? Can they impulse the national solar market?

R & D centers in Bulgaria are mainly testing laboratories to Universities and the Bulgarian Academy of Science. Their main tasks are to assess the irradiation of the sun, test appliances like panes, inverters, etc. under local conditions and participate in the education process of some new university disciplines that include RES in their programs. Most of these centres and the scientists working there also execute contracts for PV projects in the country – solar audits, testing the performance of certain technology, etc. These are:

The main fields of action and investigation domains are summarized in table 1. R&D Unit Entity PV Technology Central laboratory for solar Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Measurements for solar irradiation energy and new energy sources (BAS) and solar technologies performance 13 projects with the English Faculty “Electronics and Institute for Welding and microelectronics”14 - University Technical University Varna Solarpro – the largest Bulgarian Centre for RES thin-film PV producer South Eastern University, education of students and Solar Energy Centre at Faculty Blagoevgrad research of solar energy of Physics – 15 technologies.

Rousse University The Faculty disposes of an Faculty of Electrical and apparatus Kipp & Zonen and Electronic Technology monitor the level of solar

13 http://web.bas.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0126&n=000011&g= 14 http://www.tu-varna.bg/tu- varna/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=266&Itemid=81 15 http://www.swu.bg/university-profile/faculties-and-colleges/mathematics-and-natural- sciences.aspx

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irradiation already 5 years. Available is also small meteo- station, from which the wireless router rip data for all major meteo-factors. The University has signed contracts with companies for partnership in the field of solar energy and research. 3. Solar Market and Potential

3.1. Installed solar (thermal/photovoltaic) capacity at national level.

1. Large scale photovoltaic plants in the country that are already connected to the grid are less than 4 MW PV by the middle of 2009.16 The projects included in this statistics are usually on municipal land or on industrial land or rooftops and on locations that can be considered ’urban’. According to the Bulgarian Association for Photovoltaic Energy17 to date there are a total of over 1.4 GWp of capacity submitted as investment intentions around the country. 2. Urban PV and especially household systems as number and share are close to zero. There are very few cases of photovoltaics installed in urban environment mainly because of the heavy permitting procedures and the long pay-backs of the investment. 3. Solar thermal: No data available. The sales on the market are increasing with up to 30% every year according to some installers. 4. No concentrated solar power (CSP) 5. Passive solar: There is no data available for the existence of licensed passive buildings that integrate solar solutions. 3.2. Effective contribution of solar energy (thermal/photovoltaic) for the national energy mix.

The share and the contribution of solar energy in Bulgaria to date can be evaluated as negligible.

16 One PV plant next to Paunovo, Ihtiman was opened in November 2009 and couple of smaller projects 30-150 kWp were also finalized. There are number of projects that already have EPC contractors and including them the capacity already exceeds 4 MWp 17 http://www.bapeorg.eu/

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3.3. Technical/economical potential at national level (thermal/photovoltaic).

The ‘Alternative Energy Strategy for Bulgaria’18 a document produced by Za Zemyata19 and the NGO network INFORSE20 contains an attempt to calculate the potential of Bulgaria for the implementation of solar thermal technologies. This report gives an estimation of the measures to be taken so that the carbon footprint of Bulgaria is brought almost to zero by 2050 only by the use of state of the technology available by 2008 without the inclusion of innovation component, e.g. a value for the expected improvements of the technology. The research projects a green energy mix by 2050 and the surface covered by solar thermal solutions by that year is 7.5 million m. On the mid-term perspective until 2020 the expected covered area is estimated to the potential 1 million m. As mentioned above, the capacity connected to the grid from PV installations is less or around 2 MW. The submitted investment intentions in Bulgaria account to approximately 1.4 GWp. Our research and numerous contacts with different stakeholders allows us to conclude that there has been no statistic attempt for calculation of the usable for solar purposes rooftop surface around the country or for example in the capital Sofia or the city of Varna. There is a lack of basic input information that might allow some even though imprecise calculations to be made.

3.4. Percentage of energy demand to be covered if such capacity would be reached (thermal/photovoltaic).

Bulgaria has throughout its territory 2000-2250 sunny hours a year reflecting into a solar irradiation falling on horizontal surface for most of the country varying between 1320-1590 kWh/m2 a year21. Depending on the inclination angle, the total annual solar irradiation can vary within about 30%, the optimal inclination for Bulgarian conditions being around 40 degrees. Using average savings of little over 1500 kWh while using a solar water heater with a 1.85 m2 collector22, and assuming that each household in Bulgaria (there were 2,921,887 in 200423) would and

18 http://www.zazemiata.org/energy/fileadmin/content/energy/en_efficiency/docs/Bulgarian- vision_EN.doc 19 http://www.zazemiata.org 20 http://www.inforse.org/ 21 http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php# 22 Using specifications for the Solior (www.solior.com), a Dutch integrated solar water heater, assuming Barcelona conditions, 100 litres a day hot water consumption. 23 www.NSI.bg Bulgarian institute for Statistics, for 2004

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could install such installation, they could save about 47% on their DHW consumption24.

3.5. Are there renewable technologies which are widely diffused in your country and that can therefore contribute in a renewable obligation?

The only two widely diffused renewable technologies are hydropower plants for production and storage of electricity – for large scale power plants this technology has already fully exploited potential since the 1980s. This type of power plants provides almost the entire capacity and quantity of renewable electricity of Bulgaria varying between 6-8% depending on the rain conditions in the different years. The second widely diffused form of renewable energy is biomass, and in particular. Wood is used for heating in old-fashioned inefficient household stoves around the countryside and in some smaller cities. Still this is a potential that has to incorporate more energy efficiency and even the possibility to co-generate on a micro and small scale. Some industrial projects are being prepared to fuel co- generation plants with biomass (wood, straw) following several demonstration projects with smaller boilers. 4. Stakeholders

4.1. Which are the stakeholders and networks involved in promoting solar urban planning and what is their attitude towards renewables obligation (e.g. are building companies used to renewables)?

European Institutions – Despite that European Institutions do not fall under the definition ‘local Bulgarian’ EU has a very special role in the promotion of renewable energy in Bulgaria. Almost the entire legislation on RES and EE in Bulgaria is based on the transposition of the European directives and the targets for renewable energy share.

Government – Ministries and Departments having direct influence on the sustainable energy policy: • Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (MEET) – Department “Energy Efficiency and Environment”25 - This department is responsible for the development and implementation of policy on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. They also serve as a link between

24 3244 kWh electricity consumption for 2007, see, http://www.worldenergy.org/documents/bgr.pdf 25 http://www.mi.government.bg/ind/inov.html

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MEET and MOEW. The Department also participates in the development of policy for carbon emission management. 26 • Ministry of Environment and Waters (MoEW) – Department “Climate Change Policy” - this department is responsible for the development and implementation of climate change policy including carbon emission management. NEK27 – National Electricity Company - Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD (NEK EAD) is a single-owner joint-stock company. Its seat of business is in Sofia. Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD is the holder of the capital of NEK EAD. The main functions of the Company are: • Generation and transmission of electrical energy • Centralized purchase and sale of electrical energy • Supply of electrical energy to customers connected to the transmission network • Import, export of electrical energy • Construction and maintenance of power generation and transmission facilities • Investment

• Introduction and promotion of energy efficiency in the generation and transmission of electrical energy

ESO28 - The company of the Electricity System Operator - ESO EAD has been established on January 04, 2007 as a subsidiary of the national electrical company - Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania - NEK EAD. The Electricity System Operator performs the general operational planning.

Grid operators – There are three main energy distributing companies in Bulgaria that have direct influence over the PV market in the country as they are the one that allow the connection of the producers (in urban environment as well) and that execute the PPA agreements. These companies are: CEZ29 (West Bulgaria), E.on30 (North East Bulgaria) and EVN31 (South East Bulgaria). The feedback from entrepreneurs who have applied for connection with the grid operators vary significantly from very negative to positive but there is a common believe that grid operators do not experience an urge to connect RES projects.

Local Authorities – Municipalities and regional authorities are at an early stage in the development of

26 http://www.moew.government.bg/climate/index.html 27 http://www.nek.bg/cgi 28 http://www.tso.bg/default.aspx/en 29 http://www.cez.bg/en/home.html 30 http://www.eon-bulgaria.com/english/index.htm 31 http://www.evn.bg/

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local policy for the renewable energy and the solar solutions in particular. Some local authorities have declared interest in renewables and are often assisting toward large investment projects but there is practically no local policy developed so far setting renewable energy targets and certainly not promoting solar solutions in the urban environment.

Media Media has turned a lot of focus on RES in the recent years. One of the early birds of the media paying special attention to the green energy topic is the business media group – Economedia32 with its issues Dnevnik (newspaper), Capital (weekly) and the specialized magazine – Business & Ecology. On the website of Dnevnik there is a special section named Ecobusiness33 that is focuses on the green business developments. The owner has also invested in the production of PV modules in the country.

Associations – there is a number of associations active in Bulgaria 34 • APEE - Association of Producers of Ecological Energy – The oldest association aiming to unite the efforts of companies active in the green energy field, established in 2004, from 16 companies willing to invest and to develop the renewable energy in Bulgaria.

• Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association – formed at the end of October 2009 by 17 of the most active companies on the PV market of Bulgaria such as Alpha Energy Holding, STS Solar, Sun Service and the thin-film PV producer SolarPro. Aiming to balance and protect the interests of the producers, consumers and the state institutions in the field of photovoltaic’s and grid development 35 • Bulgarian Association for Photovoltaic Energy - The association is defined as an organization to carry out activities for public benefit, will spend their property for development of science and technology associated with the development of innovation and introduction of new methods of production and consumption of energy for domestic and industrial needs by promoting photovoltaic energy and the consequences of the promotion of renewable sources.

Business –Business is probably the most important drive behind RES together with the European legislation. Business has created its own mechanisms for promotion and dissemination of information about green energy like: 36 • STS Solar – internet forum was one of the first forums in Bulgaria opened for active discussion and communication of people interested in the development of the solar industry

32 http://www.economedia.bg/index.php?lang=en 33 http://www.dnevnik.bg/ekobiznes/ 34 http://www.apeebg.org/ 35 http://bapeorg.eu/ 36 http://solar.sts.bg/forum/

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Architectural studios, Building companies – The stakeholders are a part of the business sector but in this report we suggest a separate place for them. Architects and building entrepreneurs are not always on the same mind when it comes to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Even though architects are capable and have the knowledge to create very energy efficient building, the aim toward high margins from the building companies (reaching as much as 300-350%) together with the lack of legislation imposing the integration of solar solutions to every new building gains the image for solar solutions as expensive and unnecessary addition that would put at stake the margins of the business. This attitude is slowly changing with the shift towards a market for quality residential property. A good advantage for most of the solar solutions is that they can be implemented successfully even when a building has been erected and they have not been a part of the original project.

Exhibitions and Events • Via Expo - International Congress on EE & RES for South-East Europe37 - Annual forum aiming to present the European EE & RES knowledge and experience, and to be a platform for dialogue and business contacts. It uniquely combines scientific and industrial issues from all perspectives of EE & RES, providing the industry professionals with the latest technologies, strategies and best practices that lower costs and improve reliability. 38 • Events Economedia – Solar PV conferences, Green Economy Forum 39 • Bulgaria Economic Forum - International Business Forum "Investments in the Environment for a Better Quality of Life"40 41 • IEC (InterExpoCenter, Sofia – Bulgarreklama) - ExpoENERGY

NGOs 42 43 • Za Zemyata /INFORSE 44 • Energy 21 - Association Energy 21 is an independent voluntary association of physical and

37 http://www.viaexpo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30&Itemid=40&lang =en 38 http://www.economedia.bg/events.php?page=calendar 39 http://www.biforum.org/ 40 http://www.ecoforum.biz/ 41 http://www.bulgarreklama.com/BRek/Main.do?siteKey=1742-17&menuItemKey=1744- 322&&parentKey=1744-318 42 http://www.zazemiata.org/index_en.php 43 http://www.inforse.org/europe/bulgarian.htm 44 http://www.energy21-bg.net/index_en.html

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juridical persons registered according to the Law of juridical persons for non-profit purposes. It's objective is: Sustainable energy development by using modern technologies in the area of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources and environmental protection. The organization is dealing with dissemination of ideas for raising energy efficiency and renewable energy usage; training of experts; development of teaching programs and other forms of education; consulting, research and development activities in the field of energy saving and environmental protection; participation with expert reports in discussions on legislative initiatives and decisions of the executive authorities on questions concerning energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental protection.

Agencies 45 • Sofia Energy Agency – SOFENA - SOFENA is a non-governmental organization and non- profit legal entity. Its founders are the Sofia Municipality, the State Energy Efficiency Agency, the Sofia district heating utility - "Toplofikacia", the big private construction company - "Glavbolgarstroy" and 14 private persons (representatives of scientific institutes, universities, consumers and business organizations). 46 • Executive Energy Efficiency Agency /EEA/ - AEE is a legal person of budget with headquarters in Sofia and has the status of an executive agency of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. EEA cooperates actively with ministries and departments, industry bodies, regional administrations and local authorities and the operators, allowing them to provide expertise in order to: 1. develop programmes and projects to improve energy efficiency 2. technology transfer, knowledge and experience in the field of EE 3. providing funds for financing the programmes and projects under section 1 of the EU programmes and funds for economic and social cohesion as well as other national and international programmes, sponsors and institutions 4. implementation of projects to improve EE 5. participation in project development for regulations, harmonized with European legislation, methods of assessment and marks related to rational use of energy 6. propose the development and improvement of standards in the field of EE in order to harmonize them with EU norms and promote energy efficiency improvement in energy consumers 7. contribute to the development of training in EE 8. organizing seminars, conferences and workshops.

45 http://www.sofena.com/ 46 http://www.seea.government.bg/

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