National renewable energy action Plan (Republic of Bulgaria).

The preparation of the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (‘NREAP’) fulfils the requirements laid down in Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC that each Member State should develop an action plan, which is to ensure achievement of the national targets for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross consumption of energy and in transport. The National renewable energy action Plan (or NREAP) here establishes the general framework to be followed and implemented in the national legislation and outlines the actions to be taken by the local, regional and national authorities by 2020 in order to promote the use of renewable energy. Bulgaria’s energy policy strives to make energy production cleaner and more efficient through the deployment of energy from renewable sources and the more efficient use of fossil energy sources, minimise the impact of energy generation and consumption on the environment, and improve the management of natural resources. The expected results of this policy are twofold: minimising pollution and exploring new lines of action through greater efficiency and by promoting new technologies for the rapidly developing global market, as well as by reducing energy consumption and securing a diverse and cheap energy mix.
The assessment of the existing technical potential for renewable energy that can be exploited in Bulgaria in the period up to 2020 was made on the basis of some starting assumptions about the integrated development of Bulgaria’s economy. The preparation of this assessment was based on the following key assumptions: GDP growth rate in the period up to 2020 consistent with the projections of the Ministry of Finance; a forecast of the end usage of fuels and energy for the period 2010-2020 in the transport sector, put forward by the Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications; reduced volume of investments in the industry, and in particular in the energy sector, in the period up to 2011 due to the global financial crisis; increased investor appetite for renewable energy in the period 2012-2015 due to the obligatory purchase of the electricity produced from renewable sources at preferential prices; weak investor interest in renewable energy after 31 December 2015 due to the expiry of the period of obligatory purchase of the electricity produced from renewable sources at preferential prices; trends in the development of the efficiency of technologies using renewable energy sources; trends in the marginal costs of technologies using renewable energy sources; forecast oil prices for the period 2010-2020 and their impact on the prices of petroleum-derived fuels leading to the increased (decreased) market competitiveness of liquid biofuels; forecast oil and natural gas prices for the period 2010-2020 and their impact on the cost of agricultural production constituting the feedstock basis for solid biomass, biogas and biofuels.