The caretaker Minister of Economy and Energy, Assen Vassilev, needed only two weeks to shake very strongly the whole energy sector. In any case, his proposed package of seven measures to ensure stability caused a number of controversial comments and reactions.
The first measure provides for the suspension of capacities of producers of electricity from sun and wind, who for a period of nine months continuingly failed to comply with statutory requirements. Specifically, according to the Law on Renewable Energy, each plant with a capacity of over 30 kilowatts is required to transmit data in real time to the transmission or distribution network operator over the electric power supplied at the connection point. According to Vassilev, these requirements are not met by 40% of the eco-plants.
They do not submit data on how much energy they produce. This leads to an imbalance in the system and the major problems in management, especially in times of overproduction. Consequently, these plants will be suspended until they provide data in real time, said Minister Vassilve.
Only that the stoppage will hardly be an easy undertaking, at least from a legal standpoint. Indeed, EDC and the system operator can restrict remotely the energy supplied to the power grid, but can do so as an exception and only when they exceed their transmission capabilities. On the other hand there is a clear breach of statutory obligations, which gives the legal reason of the Ministry to impose this ultimate measure.
Of course, the reaction and the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association was immediate:
In order to achieve data delivery in real time, what is needed is to install special equipment at the point of connection of RES plants. To perform this is entirely in the hands of the EDCs as the facilities for transmitting real-time data must meet the exact specifications provided by them. Manufacturers may not on their own install these panels at the connection point to the network without specific instructions and permission from distribution companies. According to our information, a great number of RES plants have ordered and paid to EDCs for installing such panels, but they have not been delivered nor installed for months. In these cases, it is completely unacceptable to penalize manufacturers, said President of the organization Nicola Gazdov.
In fact, the main problem will be for the producers of electricity in southeastern Bulgaria, as those that have been connected to the grids of Energo-Pro and CEZ have panels fitted before starting real deliveries. The company last week demanded changes in electricity prices as of April 1 to offset losses suffered precisely from green power purchases.
The Chairman of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, Eugenia Kharitonova said the latter was impossible to take place.
Much more economic interests will be directly affected by the proposal of Assen Vassilev that the regulator implement a mechanism so that NEC and distribution companies should buy electricity from power stations (ie. brown energy) after they satisfy their own consumption. Now the majority of the owners of such facilities are trying to evade this. Instead of feeding their own production they prefer to sell to the electricity state at preferential prices from 130 to 140 levs per megawatt hour and then buy electricity from NEC for 75 levs, thus making a profit. Accordingly, all this is written on the bills of customers, as a brown energy addition. In the calculations of the Minister, the limitation of such tricks will save about 50 million levs per year from the invoice for domestic consumers.
The BANKER
