of the results and conclusions of the Regional Conference "Energy development in the changing world - strategies, challenges, opportunities", held on 11-12 December 2012.
During the discussions after the presentation of the reports a lot of statements and points of view were expressed. It would be good to summarize and to publish them, thus allowing other energy experts, general public and representatives of the state administration, who have not attended all panel sessions, to become familiar with the exchanged information. This is the purpose of the present document.
The conference work was attended by 68 foreign scientist and experts in different fields from big companies and universities from 7 countries; by more than 80 Bulgarian representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, of the Presidency, Member of Parliament, diplomats, big energy companies, representatives of international companies having investment interests in the field of energy, petrol and natural gas, ecological associations and political parties, NGOs and universities, scientific institutes, trade unions etc.
The key issues in these reports and discussions could be summarized in the conclusions below:
1. The market reforms in the Bulgarian Energy Sector are in 1-year delay. The reasons for this are the complicated restructuring processes of the Energy Sector in compliance with the requirements of the 3rd Energy package as well as the need of development of series new rules and norms related to the functioning of the liberalized markets. The selected model is related to the stage by stage liberalization of the whole electricity market, including the consumers at 20 kV level as well as for the purposes of the whole internal gas market.
2. There are two main challenges, which the Bulgarian Energy Sector will face during the next years and these are the main areas, in which the TSO (ESO) and SEWRC currently work.
а) Commissioning of many renewables with alternating operation modes and
b) Forthcoming liberalization of the market and maintenance of stability of the Energy System by: commissioning of balancing groups, new compensating capacities and/or integration of the energy system with the neighbour energy systems.
3. Lack of forecasts about the consequences of the liberalization process of the electrical and gas markets in Bulgaria such as price dynamic on the internal markets and their reflection on the export capacities and compatibility of the Bulgarian Energy Sector.
4. There are positive changes and trends for diversification of the supplies of the natural gas to Bulgaria. In spite of the above, during the discussions some foreign companies and Bulgarian experts provoked topics and posed questions, which have to be examined by Bulgargas in order to prepare and undertake actions on the future liberalized energy market.
5. The management of the Bulgarian Electric Power System faces a lot of difficulties regarding the integration of too many renewable energy sources, which requires short-term investments for construction of new compensating capacities.
6. The presented strategies for the energy security of other participants in the conference (from Poland and USA) contained some elements, which are not involved in the Bulgarian Energy Strategy and they were a matter of profound interest. They are based on comprehensive analyses and forecasts for the development of new technologies and apply generally new approach to the elements of the sustainable energy development and combat the climate changes. It is recommendable these new aspects to be analyzed by the Bulgarian Energy Experts, especially in view of the EU goal for full decarbonization of the Energy Sector until 2050.
7. It is necessary to revise the Bulgarian Energy Strategy, because during the last two years a lot of objective circumstances occurred and they have to be included in a new revision of the document. The participants agree that the Energy Strategy of Bulgaria needs new structure as a whole program document, containing only main principles, policies and long-term goals. Additionally, the Energy Act has to settle requirement for development of current Progress Reports on Sector Development for 2-year periods, as a secondary document to the Strategy.
8. The Bulgarian conventional energy generated in Maritsa East complex - power plants and coal mines, reported on a number of worldwide achievements such as technologies, reliability, environmental protection and technical and economic characteristics. The forthcoming establishment of "penalty" fees for carbon emissions will be a serious challenge for this base load sector, because it will increase the cost of such type of electricity generation by more than 30% comparing with the present cost.
9. The investment initiatives for construction of new generating capacities for Maritsa East complex shall be preceded by detailed feasibility study of the coal resources and forecasts technical and economical properties for long term period.
10. Despite the adopted legislation, the process of investigations for commissioning of new Carbon Capture and Storage technologies in Bulgaria is behind the pace of development of other countries with coal power plants, which may have negative impact on their future. During the conference some topical information was presented about the active measures in this field, undertaken by the UK, which has a big share of coal power plants and executes serious preparation steps to achieve the target - full or as a minimum 90% decarbonization of its Energy Sector until 2050.
11. Varna TPP reported on ambitious Program for modernization and "ecologization" of the power plant aiming to upgrade it as state of the art generation capacity in compliance with the requirements of Directive 2010/75/EC. With rehabilitated units 4, 5 and 6 this power plant will continue to be a base load capacity providing stability of the Energy System and especially of the region of North-Eastern Bulgaria.
12. As related to the topic for diversification of the supplies of natural gas, several important new projects were reported, including the plans and work program of Total for explorations of Khan Asparuh block; the point of view of Shevron for achievement of real energy independence and fast economic progress of Bulgaria by production of natural gas from local sources; Melrous plans for development of Galata and Kaliakra fields for production of natural gas etc.
13. There is high interest in the explorations and production of natural gas in Bulgaria both in the conventional way and in the future production of shale gas by the means of hydraulic fracking, which is currently forbidden. However, anybody of the attendees did not require revision of the effective moratorium, in spite of the disputable wordings and stagnation conditions for the whole development of the exploration activities in it.
14. The Bulgarian Operator of the gas transmission network presented development plans for gas storage facility in Chiren and the role of these projects for improvement of the reliability of supplies by increasing of the natural gas quantities for domestic demand in crisis conditions of the normal supplies. The experts' opinion is that the process of enlargement of the gas storage facility in Chiren has to continue and to achieve long-term redundancy, complying with the European requirements.
15. Active participants in the conference were sveral ecological organizations and associations such as Ecoglasnost, the Party of Greens, The Greens, Civil Initiative for Prohibition of the Shale Gas Production by the means of fracking method, EcoForum Association and Coalition for Sustainable Development. The representatives of the Civil Initiative had the floor to express their statements.
16. The UK Environmental Agency presented a report on the structure and progress for improvement of the regulations and development of the regulatory mechanisms for effective control and environmental protection concerning the exploration and production of shale gas. During the presentation it was clarified that in the UK the process of development of the regulations in this field is finalized, structures are established and the control authorities are functioning, so there are no legal obstacles and procedure restrictions for starting of effective production of shale gas, which is expected very soon. In Bulgaria it would be expedient the respective structures of the MoEW and the RIEW to examine the British and USA experiences in the control of the environmental impact by the shale gas production and to make every endeavour for effective promotion of the foreign experience in our country.
17. The participants in the conference were highly impressed by the real multiple effects on the economy, prices and life standard of the common USA citizens occurred during the last 10 years as a result of the intensive production of shale gas. These data were presented by the Director of the Program "Energy Initiatives" from the University of Massachusetts. The speaker offered to the Bulgarian experts 4 leading principles for the success of any national program for shale gas: improvement of the understanding of the scientific and applicable technologies, recommendation of the best practices in design and exploration of the wells, transparency of the exploration and production and stimulation of the research activity in the field of methane hydrates.
18. Representative of the legal authority of the Republic of Bulgaria reported in details on the effective well-elaborated and strict legislation and by-laws related to the control of the exploration and eventual production of shale gas in Bulgaria. It was underlined that in some aspects the Bulgarian ecological legislation is even stricter than the European standards. Based on the discussions after the presentations it could be summarized that the Bulgarian regulations in this field require amendments and improvements aiming to establish procedures for effective continuous control by the society - municipalities and NGOs.
19. All representatives of ecological organizations expressed their opinions regarding the shale gas issues and presented their statements and number of requirements to the future of this business:
А) Some of them consider that the hydraulic fracking technology is disputable and hazardous for the environment. The examples, shown by them, were single, tendentious and as it was determined later, not all of them have been related to such facilities.
B) The detailed statistic data about the type of accidents as reported by the American scientists and experts are accepted with understanding and certain doubt. There are totally 40 accidents occurred in more than 20 000 exploited wells in USA.
C) It would be good for the future discussions about the applicable technologies to attract other experts such as: university professors, doctors, toxicologists etc.
D) It is needed the companies, which will have access to the explorations and eventual future production of the shale gas in Bulgaria to publish a detailed list of the chemicals, which they are going to use and to specify where they will be applied and what is their impact on the human health..
E) The representatives of the ecological association - Association EcoForum expressed their support of the controlled development of the production of all types of natural resources, provided that the principles of sustainable development are observed - balance between the ecology, economic efficiency and social benefits.
20. Representatives of different universities and research centers in UK, USA and Poland, mine engineers, working currently in facilities for shale gas production presented detailed information and their practical experience in the field of shale gas production in different countries in the world and they show justified examples for available reliable methods and means for effective control for environmental protection.
Finally, the participants in the conference wished it to become a traditional event and to be held annually for discussion of topics, which comply with the agenda of the Bulgarian Energy Sector and Energy Sectors of the East European and Balkan countries.
The participants accepted unanimously the proposal of the Program and Organizing Committee to submit the present Memorandum to the Management of the Parliamentary Commission for Economic Policy, Energy and Tourism in 41st Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria as well as to the Management of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism.
