Bulgaria exports 62 percent more electricity – solar parks and batteries lead
Despite heat and low Danube levels, Bulgaria has remained a net power exporter: 3.5 TWh since January. Industry group APSTE now calls for faster wind power expansion.
Symbolic image · Photo: Kecko from Eastern Switzerland / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria has significantly increased its net electricity exports this year. From the start of the year to early October, they rose by 62 percent to 3.5 terawatt hours, from 2.16 TWh in the same period last year. The Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity (APSTE) announced this on Friday, citing data from grid operator ESO. Electricity generation grew by 12.24 percent and consumption by 8.45 percent.
Renewables generated 11.5 TWh, almost 34 percent more than a year earlier, and accounted for nearly 80 percent of the increase in generation. Battery storage grew particularly strongly: by 4 October, batteries had fed 1,720 gigawatt hours into the grid, compared with 190 GWh a year earlier. Despite heatwaves and low Danube levels that constrained nuclear and hydropower in the region, Bulgaria kept prices below neighbouring markets during key periods.
According to APSTE chair Nikola Gazdov, Bulgaria is producing and storing increasing amounts of its own electricity. He said this brings more competitive prices and greater energy security. However, the association warned that solar output falls in winter while consumption rises. Bulgaria therefore needs to speed up wind power development.