The Energy Committee of the Parliament adopted a shock second reading postponement of the liberalization of the electricity market and not only

Deputies from the Energy Committee of the National Assembly resoundingly and with a majority at their last meeting accepted the amendments and additions to the Energy Act at the second reading. Basically, the texts envisage postponing the liberalization of the wholesale electricity market by one year. That is, the implementation of this process according to the adopted texts will start from July 1, 2025.

It is planned that by April 30, 2024, companies in the "Electricity" sector will submit an application to the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (EWRC) to approve prices for the period July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025.

The amendments to the draft law also include texts proposed by the Electricity System Operator (ESO), which provide for the possibility of providing maneuvering power in order to balance the country's electricity system. PP-DB deputy Radoslav Ribarski, who stated that it is mainly a matter of batteries for energy storage, also questioned whether these texts mean that there will be tenders for additional capacities. The executive director of ESO, Angelin Tsachev, clarified that it is about the need to build maneuvering capacities, which will not be owned by ESO. He explained that yes, this is the idea of signaling to investors to build such capacities. Maria Krasteva from ASEP, who was present at the meeting, pointed out that perhaps technologies should not be limited, but that these tenders should be placed in a framework. The Chairman of the Committee on Energy, Delyan Dobrev specified that there are normative documents, including an Ordinance, in which specific parameters can be included.

A new text provides for the introduction of the so-called "flexible capacity". This means the introduction of a network compaction model with the right to connect at one point to one more RES-producer. The text provides that this right is granted to RES producers not only from the power transmission, but also from the power distribution networks.

The text is also new, also at the proposal of the ESO, which stipulates that charging stations for electric cars can be introduced at 110 kilovolt substations.

MP Radoslav Rybarski from the PP-DB objected, stating that the initial idea was for a unified text to postpone the law on the wholesale liberalization of the electricity market. "Why is everything being pushed into liberalization?" he asked, reminding that April 25 is the last meeting of the National Assembly.

The executive director of ESO, Angelin Tsachev, explained that the idea is not to build charging stations, but to deploy a charging infrastructure, thus enabling the network operator to use these objects as balancing systems.

Roadmap to climate neutrality

Before adopting the mentioned texts on liberalization, at a joint meeting of the energy commission and the environment commission, the people's representatives also adopted an update of the Roadmap for climate neutrality. The decision states that it supports the proposal of the Council of Ministers from January 26 this year on the updated Roadmap for climate neutrality of Bulgaria.

During the debate of the energy committee, the deputy from Vazrazhdane Iskra Mihailova recalled previous meetings on this topic and the amendments, in particular, regarding the dates for closing the coal plants - initially postponed, then amended in a new update of the document, and expressed doubt that the current initiative is a pre-election move.

"What necessitates this urgency?" BSP MP Dragomir Stoynev also asked. He objected to the proposed document because of the offshore wind farm projects included in the updated Roadmap and was adamant that he would not support the proposal.

Within the debate of the Eco commission on the Roadmap from Vazrazhdane, they also expressed a negative opinion, in particular because of the projects for offshore wind farms. Bozhinova from the Green Movement also expressed concern "about the fins". At the same time, according to her, the interests are balanced, and this is the main "stumbling block" for the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and that is why she stands behind supporting the document.

BGN 200 million for Mini "Maritsa East"

The deputies of the energy committee also adopted a decision to allocate BGN 200 million every year (for the next five years) from the state budget for the reclamation of the contaminated grounds of the "Maritsa East" mine.

Dragomir Stoynev from the BSP expressed concern about making such a decision. "What, are we going to give them shovels for reclamation?" he asked, and expressed his strong opinion that the mechanism should be explained. The question of clarifying the mechanism for allocating these funds was also raised by Radoslav Ribarski from PP-DB.

Iskra Mihailova from Vazrazhdane stated that she would support this decision, but questioned the need for guarantees that the reclamation of the contaminated land will be carried out by the Mines and not by external companies. She also expressed displeasure that such serious proposals for decisions are submitted 15 minutes before a committee meeting.

The People's Representative from GERB, Rositsa Kirova, explained for her part that reclamation is a long process that takes 10-15 years, and the activity at Mini "Maritsa East" is slowing down and the company does not have enough funds for this activity, which is aimed at preventing and landslide processes, and in general for environmental activities. The decision "for" allocating these funds was made by a majority, but it remained questionable whether the budget would be able to afford it.

At the end of the meeting, however, the former eco-minister Borislav Sandov warned that this decision to allocate funds for reclamation is contrary to legal norms. "The reclamation is carried out according to the plan at the expense of the offender, otherwise it will be unregulated state aid," he said. Sandov also expressed reservations that the updated Roadmap will be accepted by the European Commission.