With amendments to the Ordinance for regulating electricity prices, the method how to set tariffs for the purchase of electricity produced by green plants – wind, solar and biomass, etc has been changed. So far the price was determined as by not less than 70 percent of the average selling price for the preceding calendar year of public or end suppliers and an increment determined by SEWRC.
Under the new wording, preferential tariffs for electricity produced from renewable sources, excluding energy produced by hydropower plants with installed capacity of above 10 MW will be set taking into account a number of pricing factors, including investment costs, the rate of return, capital structure and investment performance of the installation according to the type of technology and resources used, costs associated with a higher degree of environmental protection, raw material for energy production and more.
Furthermore, determination of preferential prices for green energy will now be made in types of renewable sources, taking into account the characteristics of the technology.
Another important change is that the EU subsidies, which many investors in projects to produce electricity from wind, solar and biomass obtained in various European and national programmes, will now be deducted from the price of their electricity. This will lead to a reduction of tariffs on green energy, predicts the chairman of the regulator Angel Semerdzhiev. He did not commit to a percentage, as yet there is no information on how much amount has been provided so far by the European Union in subsidies to renewable energy projects.
The upcoming corrections in the ordinance, however, are no to the liking of the people who work in the sector.
The frequent changes of preferential prices do not allow investors to make plans, because there is no predictability in the sector. This is what happens now, it will make an analogy with the football, which Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, loves so much. It’s like saying come to play in the Champions League, but we lack lighting and judge, and at halftime we will take the ball. Thus, foreign companies will logically shift to other market segments or leave Bulgaria, said in an emotional statement President of the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association Nikolai Gazdov.
