Only half a meter drop in the waters of the Danube River in the Bulgarian section separates our country from a serious limitation of the capacities of the "Kozloduy" NPP, the chairman of the Association for Production, Storage and Trade of Electricity Nikola Gazdov told the National Radio. At the moment, there is no risk of a shortage of electricity for Bulgaria, but the situation may become more complicated in the coming months, he warned, both in terms of quantities and prices of electricity.
The limited capacities of the "Kozloduy" NPP are currently being compensated by the production of renewable energy. Bulgaria has eliminated the risks at the expense of a slight - about 10% - contraction in photovoltaic exports. But the situation so far does not affect the state of the market, both in the country and in the region, thanks to the peak values of solar energy produced in August, which on a daily basis sometimes exceed even the production of the nuclear power plant, explained Nikola Gazdov:
"The difference between the situation today, in which we have comfort, that Bulgaria is well connected to neighboring markets, that we have our own photovoltaic production, that our nuclear power plant is still operating at a large part of its capacity, and a situation in which the Kozloduy NPP must be largely limited, is only 50 cm. That is, we are 50 cm away from having to reduce the capacity of the "Kozloduy" NPP almost to a standstill, as do Romania and Hungary.
And if the situation with the low level of the Danube River persists in the coming weeks, there are difficult months ahead in the fall and winter, both for our country and for the entire region, Nikola Gazdov predicts. Nuclear capacities will be further limited, there are regulatory restrictions on thermal power plants, the solar energy produced will naturally decrease, and wind energy in Bulgaria is very limited. Then we can already expect higher electricity prices in the region, Gazdov pointed out:
"Now in winter, if God forbid this situation continues along the entire Danube river basin, if we do not have an improvement, then we can really imagine that things will not be good, neither in terms of price nor in terms of electricity availability. "If we cannot export as much as the market in neighboring countries demands, then neighboring countries will buy electricity from somewhere else, probably at a higher price, especially if it is from gas-fired power plants, and this will have an impact on the entire market, including ours."