On March 29, during the hybrid discussion organized by “Za Zemiata” at the House of Europe, Sofia, on the topic: “The green transition in Bulgaria – opportunities, benefits and false solutions. Does Bulgaria need new nuclear power facilities?” came to the conclusion that the price of climate inaction for Bulgaria is higher in comparison with choosing the 1.5 C compatible energy transition pathway.

The event was divided into two sessions, recorded with Eng interpretation.

Discussion Recording: Does Bulgaria need new nuclear power facilities?

Discussion Recording: Opportunities and obstacles to the green transition

The presentations in BG are available at the bottom of the Bulgarian article about the event

The Session on “Opportunities and obstacles to the green transition” started with an opening presentation of Radostina Slavkova from Za Zemiata on the Co-benefits report of CAN Europe: “The Paris Agreement Pays Off: Accelerating the Green Transition Leads to Socio-Economic Co-Benefits”, showing the results for Bulgaria. The main conclusion is that the benefits of an accelerated energy transition in the EU and member states many times outweigh the additional costs for it. The benefits of ambitious climate action fall into two main categories: the first category refers to avoided climate losses and the second category “co-benefits” is about the additional benefits stemming from climate action.  

Later in the panel the energy expert Petko Kovachev commented on the delays and implications of decarbonisation reforms and investment projects within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Bulgaria, including the missing REPowerEUchapter. The risk of not receiving any funds under the plan except the first payment is strongly exacerbated by the political instability. 

Another energy and climate expert, Georgi Stefanov, talked about the potential of geothermal energy as an alternative to the current baseload energy from nuclear and coal, which should find stronger emphasis in the NECP update.

Prof. Hristo Vasilev from the Technical University, examined the prospects for the price of energy in Bulgaria, coming from photovoltaics, to be below 15 euros per MWh by 2035. He also added that photovoltaics can be baseload power at least 8 months of the year, and or even more when combined with battery/storage technologies.

Last but not least, associate Prof. Vladimir Zinoviev from UNWE (the leading economic university in Sofia) talked about Energy Communities as a model for sustainable decentralization of generators and consumers.

The morning Session: “Does Bulgaria need new nuclear power facilities?” concluded that new nuclear capacities are not really needed.

In all the modeled scenarios of the think-tank Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), there is no shortage of electricity and no missing reserve capacity. Prof. Dimo Stoilov from the Technical University of Sofia cited the 2020 NECP, saying the new 2,000 MW of nuclear power is not needed for the national electricity balance, but for export. Lawyer Kashamov noted about the new nuclear project for NPP Kozloduy 7-8 rectors recurring situations with the failed Belene NPP project such as: the adoption of unargued political decisions without the obligatory economic analysis, making unfulfillable promises about the price and construction period, ignoring the problems with radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.