Solar thermal energy in Bulgaria

General

According to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Bulgaria is 16% (in the year 2005 the share was 9.4%).

Renewable heat: solar thermal

The geographical location of Bulgaria makes the country suitable for solar energy utilization. Over 80% of the territory of Bulgaria is suitable for utilization of solar energy. In Bulgaria, the average annual period of sunshine is about 2,100 hours. In some of its regions it may reach 2,500 hours. Solar thermal potential in Bulgaria:

-the average solar radiation is 1,517 kWh/m² (1,410-1,600 kWh/m²),

-the average annual period of sunshine is 2,150 hours (2,100-2,500 hours). Major parts of the existing installations require repair. The main problems include the corrosion of steel collector surrounding and the absorber coatings, lack of frost protection, and broken glasses.

In 2009 the installed capcities in Bulgaria amounted to 57,850 m2 and the Bulgarian solar thermal market was booming in the years 2007 and 2008 due to the dynamic development of the building sector at the country's seaside. A lot of hotels were inaugurated back then, offering potential for larger solar thermal systems. According to the figures of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), market volume was around 25,000 m2 annually. But then, a building crisis hit the country and slowed down the building sector. In addition, the Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line (REECL) came to a close in January 2010, which negatively affected market development, too. The newly installed collector area in Bulgaria is estimated at only around 8,000 m2/a in 2010.

The majority of installed solar collectors during the last years in public buildings and in industrial enterprises are implemented under different programs. A big part (90%) of the sales of solar systems belongs to those who build new houses or new private hotels.The first Bulgarian solar collector was designed and produced in 1977. Bulgaria used to be a leader in Eastern Europe in design and production of solar thermal installations. The first Bulgarian solar thermal collectors have been panel type radiators with an area of 2 m²; the next step in design was the flat plate collectors with areas of 1.46 and 1.76 m². The state enterprise “New Energy Sources” (NES) was in a position to solve technical problems related to research, design, testing, manufacturing and assembling of solar thermal installations. NES implemented a large–scale governmental program for designing, manufacturing and installing 50 000 m² solar collectors. These collectors were installed during 1977 – 1990, mainly in the tourist facilities for hot water supply at the Black Sea coast. Solar collectors were also applied in industry for DHW and for drying agricultural products. In 1990-2000, different solar thermal demo projects (e.g. within the Phare program) were implemented, after which the market of solar thermal systems started to grow, with an  annual average of 5,000 m² SC installed. 54% of the installations in the tourist facilities are still operational, but for the industrial sector only 8%.There are no specific simplified procedures for small-scale, decentralised installations. The construction of any energy facility follows one and the same statutory procedure; a simplified procedure, however, is planned to be introduced for the construction of small-scale facilities — solar thermal systems of up to 50 kW installed capacity— on roofs or façade structures where the energy is used in situ. At present, no building permit is required for solar hot water collectors.

A couple of years ago, Bulgaria began to support solar thermal systems by providing a combination of grants and loans for their installation. The facility ceased operating in January 2010 but it is likely that it will be renewed. The Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line (REECL) programme in Bulgaria expired on the 20th January 2010 and was, all in all, a quite successful one. The amount of the grant is up to 20% or 30% of the amount of the loan, but not more than EUR 2,000. With a grant and a loan, the programme supported 28,915 home improvement projects bent on making buildings more energy-efficient. Since May 2005, the government has spent a total of Bulgarian Leva (BGN) 15,296,570 (EUR 7,832,620) on grants and financed BGN 86,939,457 (EUR 44,517,413) of loans for residential home owners and flat occupiers throughout the country. The programme received its budget of more than EUR 64 million from the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency Agency - while Bulgarian banks administered it. Each household participating in the REECL programme benefited from an incentive of up to a 30 % of costs of the energy savings measures, although the amount was capped at EUR 2,000. As for solar water heaters, incentives were limited to a maximum amount of EUR 600 per family. At present, it is not clear if the programme will be implemented once again. The following figure shows the single shares of eligible technologies in the total number of 28,915 applications. It can be noticed, that the 4% share of solar water heaters (1,241) is much smaller than the share of heat pumps, which reached 29% (total number at 10,879 systems).The Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line (REECL) programme has been quite successful. It has already supported 1,024 solar thermal systems since it was launched in May 2005. Another programme for commercial applications - the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Credit Line (BEERECL) – has not enjoyed that same popularity when it comes to the solar thermal sector. Only 4 solar thermal installations are among the 126 projects that have already been financed since the start of BEERECL in 2004. The solar thermal sector will now get another chance to take advantage of the programme's advantages since the programme was extended a second time. There has been only one programme running currently, which has little effect on the market and collector sales: The Bulgarian Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Credit Line (BEERECL), a credit programme offered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which has been equipped with a budget of EUR 55 million and is running until 31 July 2011. According to the programme's statistic, only a handful solar thermal systems were among the projects subsidised with it.

There are about 100 firms in Bulgaria which offer delivery, installation and maintenance of solar thermal applications. A few of them are major firms which have distribution network around the country. Most of the other firms are small, which are dealing with heating systems in general and offer also solar collectors. The city of Shumen in the northeast of Bulgaria is becoming the centre of the national solar thermal industry. Right next to already established solar system manufacturer New Energy Systems, Bulgarian company Tesy will built up a solar tank and collector production. The company invested EUR 5 million for the new building and machinery. Tesy is a well known electric water heater manufacturer with around 400 employees. Tesy bought an ultrasonic-welding machine and offers collectors with full plate copper absorber plates. Collectors with purchased, laser-welded aluminium absorbers complement the company's product range. With respect to the tank, the Bulgarian manufacturer offers enamelled indirect cylinders and buffers from 200 to 2,000 litres.

Future programme changes expected

In some prognoses it is expected in 2015 for Bulgaria to have have 120,00 m² STC installed. On average 8-25 000 m² SC will be installed annually, depending on the market situation.Other prognoses are more optimistic in 2010 year to have 260,000 m² SC and in 2015 to have 470,000 m² SC but are unrealistic under current market conditions.

Sources

http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/1251

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/doc/national_renewable_energy_action_plan_bulgaria_en.pdf

http://www.solarthermalworld.org/taxonomy/term/1770

http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/2860

http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/1251

http://www.cres.gr/trans-solar/downloads/template_bulgaria.pdf

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Last update: April 2011

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date of last update: April 2011

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