Svetoslav Ivanov: Gasification of 700 thousand households eliminates the need for 2000 MW of installed capacity

Domestic gasification of 700,000 households eliminates the need for 2,000 MW of installed electricity generation capacity, given the structure of primary energy production and the use of final energy. Associations with different power generating capacities are allowed, but they should not be directed in the direction of creating a harmful conflict in one or another segment of the Bulgarian energy sector. On the contrary, we need to think about what are the opportunities for synergy between them without compromising the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy. This was stated by the Executive Director of Overgas Networks Svetoslav Ivanov during the discussion within the conference "European Green Deal and the Bulgarian Energy Transition", organized by EMI and the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Behind every efficiently used kilowatt-hour of final energy are many such kilowatt-hours of losses in the processes of transmission and conversion. The common denominator between the efficiently used kilowatt-hour and the one we lose is the carbon dioxide emissions and others that are released during the production of final energy, said Svetoslav Ivanov, metaphorically defining the large losses of primary energy as a disease.

"Specifically for Bulgaria, in the mix of electricity production, coal occupies about 42 percent, of which about 40% is locally produced. In practice, with such a mix of electricity production and this high loss of primary energy to reach the end user (in my opinion the losses are somewhere around 80%) behind every kilowatt hour out of the mains we use stand another 4 kilowatt hours of primary energy. We can not disagree with the fact that their combustion emits harmful emissions, and this supports the thesis that direct gasification at the end user is essentially recovery in the final primary consumption and in fact allows to save about 65 the percentage of carbon dioxide emissions emitted in the production of electricity," Ivanov said.

The Executive Director of Overgas Networks also outlined his thesis, according to which, “direct gasification in Bulgarian conditions with a result such as the average achieved for the population of the European Union can actually help the Bulgarian economy to achieve at least 50% of the goals the green deal is formulated for the period until 2030 ", he said, based on some numbers.

"The average consumption of a household that is gasified in Bulgaria is about 1000 cubic meters, which is equal to about 10.6 MWh per year. This number is, of course, depending on the fluctuations in the calorific value of natural gas. The savings according to the methodologies that are currently applied in the country are of the order of 20 MWh. At the same time, each household that is gasified on average cancels the needs of about 3 kilowatts of installed capacity for electricity production. If we assume that on average in Bulgaria in 10 years can be gasified 700 thousand households that replace electricity (the number only at first glance sounds impressive, it is a pessimistic goal, well below the potential that exists in the price b.St. I.) we can safely say that the gasification of these 700 thousand households eliminates the need for 2000 MW of installed capacity," said Ivanov, noting that conflicts with other segments in the energy sector should not be sought.

"Here the associations with different power generating capacities are allowed, but they should not be in the direction of creating a harmful conflict in one or another segment of the Bulgarian energy sector. On the contrary, we need to think about what are the opportunities for synergy between them, without compromising the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy," said Ivanov.

"I will repeat the thesis I formulated a while ago. If we take the structure of primary energy used in electricity generation and the structure of final energy consumption in households and all the advantages of direct gasification in the home, it is very easy to say that it is a balanced recipe for the treatment of the disease. I formulated the beginning as excessive losses of primary energy", said the executive director of" Overgas Networks. He agreed that natural gas is not a panacea.

"I am far from saying such a thing, but I am not the first to say and try to prove that it is in fact a bridge between the shores of a carbon-intensive economy and a carbon-neutral economy that you can imagine." that the river of the green deal is flowing", concluded Svetoslav Ivanov.