Bulgaria bioenergy

Bulgaria is located in the South-eastern Europe on a territory of 111 thousands km2. Its population is about 7.7 millions (2004). In the Northern part of the country the climate is temperate continental and in the Southern part the influence of the Mediterranean climate can be noticed. The average temperature in the winter is 1° C and in the summer is 21°C. Bulgaria joined the EU on January 1st, 2007. The country is highly dependent on energy an import which covers 60 to 70% of its energy needs. These imports were about 20% of the total imports for the country in 2003 and came mainly from the Russian Federation. From this point of view the reduced and rationalised energy consumption and generation, including the wider introduction of renewable energy sources will be beneficial for the Bulgarian economy and the security of energy supply.

Country	year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005e
TPES	ktoe	19227	19470	19205	19604	20441	21030
Coal	%	0,35	0,37	0,34	0,38	0,39	0,39
Oil	%	0,22	0,21	0,23	0,24	0,24	0,25
Natural gas	%	0,15	0,14	0,13	0,13	0,13	0,13
Nuclear energy	%	0,26	0,27	0,28	0,23	0,22	0,2
Hydro energy	%	0,01	0,01	0,01	0,01	0,01	0,01
Electricity (export)	%	-0,02	-0,03	-0,03	-0,02	-0,02	-0,02
Wood, etc.	%	0,03	0,03	0,03	0,04	0,04	0,04
TPES/pppGDP	ktoe/$95p	0.445	0.433	0.407	0.399	0.395	0.386
TFC	ktoe	8435	8414	8521	9179	9678	10127
TFC/pppGDP	ktoe/$95p	0.195	0.187	0.187 0.1	0.187	0.187	0.186
TFC/TPES	%	0.439	0.432	0.4	0.468	0.474	0.482

As shown on the table the country is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. On the other hand, the share of renewables and natural gas is very low.

Coal represents a significant share of the fuel mix (39% of TPES in 2005) and is widely used for electricity generation, for space heating and in industrial processes. About 90% of the coal consumption in Bulgaria is lignite and most of the remaining comes from imports. While the county has significant reserves of lignite that might be sufficient for about 80 years, its quality is very poor. Typical calorific value of Bulgarian lignite coal is about 1600 kcal/kg and it has high ash and sulphur content (of about 2%) that requires robust and expensive purification of the flue gases. Increasing the share of coal is seen as one of the means for achieving fuel imports' independence of the country.

The other main source of electricity is nuclear power. It accounted for about 40% in 2004. Bulgaria agreed to close four (440 MW each) of the six reactors from the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Kozloduy as a prelude to EU accession negotiations. First two blocks have been already closed at the end of 2002 and the other two are due to be closed by the end of 2006 but units 5 and 6 of 1000 MW each will continue to operate. In 2003 the government decided to resume the construction of second NPP near the town of Belene to replace the closed 1-4 units of Kozloduy NPP.

Source: access-ret.net/info/pdfs/biomass_development.pdf