In 2020, 20.8 % of electricity and 23.8 % of energy for heating and cooling produced in Bulgaria will come from renewable energy sources. These data were announced at the regional forum „Balkan Policies for Green Economic Growth”, which took place on 11th June in Sofia. The organizers of the event were the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza” and the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. The forum is organized with the financial support of the Balkan Trust of Democracy. Sponsor of the event is GLOBUL.
“We have to carefully subsidize the green energy”, said during the forum the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Delyan Dobrev. He highlighted that this was needed as at the moment Bulgaria is among the countries in the EU that have outstanding results in achieving the 2020 targets. “In some countries, like Spain and the Czech Republic, this market has already overheated. Green energy in those countries is so developed that they reached their goals and have removed subsidized price of those types of electricity.” The Minister added that if we allowed this to happen in Bulgaria, by next year we would have achieved our targets and from then on for the period of 7 years the sector would be doomed to stagnation.
At the forum, for the first time Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Director, EU Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change and Peter Kaderjak, Director, Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research presented the report “Clean Energy Finance Solutions Central and Eastern Europe”. The document was developed by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership” (CPLS) in cooperation with the Regional Center for Energy Policy Research (REKK) at Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary. It analyses the opportunities which the renewable energy sources provide from the cross border aspect, creation of new jobs and economic growth in four countries – Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The goal of the report is to give recommendations on how the dialogue between governments and investors could be boosted through the lenses of the future energy profile of the region.
Iskra Mihaylova – Chair of the Parliamentary Commission of Environment and Water talked about the need for the Southeast European countries to integrate their goals for green growth in relation to regional advantages and regional market.
Yasen Guev, Director Corporate Affairs at GLOBUL, focused on the responsibility of the company for the future of the state and the region and its ambition to transfer its experience in the area of green policies to other companies.
Among the guest speakers were Lazar Gechevski – Director of the Energy Agency of Macedonia, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Kosovo – Ramadan Hasani, the Deputy Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Dirk Buschle, representatives of the business, investors, experts and analysts. Alumni from the National and Regional Programs of the Bulgarian School of Politics, among them members of Parliaments, ministers, mayors and business people from West Balkans, Romania and Bulgaria, also took part in the forum.
The event was held just before the Rio+20 world leaders conference, which will focus on green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty decrease, as well as on the institutional framework of sustainable development. The forum provided opportunities for exchange of information and ideas for pure energy and energy efficiency, and became a platform for transfer of sustainable energy policies, which will help the accession countries from the region get integrated into the European energy community.
At the evening of 10 June, there was a reception for the forum’s participants on which Markus Repnik – Country manager for Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Slovakia of the World Bank, presented the “Green Growth Report” developed by the Bank.
Reports:
Clean Energy Finance Solutions: Central & Eastern Europe
ANNEX I: INVESTMENT GAP ANALYSIS FOR RES‐E IN BULGARIA
Declaration by the delegates of the conference
Beyond the 19th century vision of the energy future of the Balkans
Presentations: