Aiming to be a world leader in renewable energy production, the EU has chosen the right direction, said Ivan Ivanov, Chair of the Energy and Water Regulatory Committee, to the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Energy Committees of the Parliaments of the European Union.
Aiming to be a world leader in renewable energy production, the EU has chosen the right direction, said Ivan Ivanov, Chair of the Energy and Water Regulatory Committee. He was the keynote speaker at the third session of the EU Energy Committees Parliamentary Meeting - "Market Integration of Sustainable Energy Sources".
Over the past period, Bulgaria exceeded its target and already 18.2 percent of the final energy consumption is produced from renewable sources, Ivan Ivanov said. He specified that only 11 of the 28 EU Member States had fulfilled their targets by the end of 2017.
The overall installed capacity in Bulgaria is a little over 12,000 megawatts, of which about 40 per cent are installed renewable energy sources, said the Chair of the Energy and Water Regulatory Committee. He pointed out that countries such as Bulgaria could use the mechanism for statistical transfer of produced renewable energy, which would allow not so much financial compensation, but an opportunity for additional investments in the development of this sector.
The Vice Chair of the EP Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), Jaromir Kohlicek noted that the use of renewable energy sources requires very large investments because consumption has increased in recent years. Our goal is to stop using coal and fossil petroleum products, he pointed out, and stressed that the key issue is how energy from renewable sources will be transmitted and how it can be stored.
The Chairperson of the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association Meglena Rusenova spoke to the participants in the meeting about the opportunities and challenges for the market integration of renewable energy.
The "Clean Energy for All Europeans" package outlines a completely new design of the electricity market for a larger share of renewable energy and the overall management of the European Energy Union, Meglena Rusenova said. The new regulatory framework puts renewable energy at the centre of the energy mix, she stressed. The proposed new design of the market allows for the integration of a larger share of energy from renewable sources, which will lead to a higher level of flexibility on part of the suppliers and consumers, said the chair of the Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association.
However, regional cross-border trade and flexible markets will not only be beneficial to the development of infrastructure for key capacities but also to regional economies by allowing an increasing share of cost-effective renewable capacities, Meglena Rusenova said.
