site.bta40% Increase in PV Plants Waiting to Connect to Grid

The number of photovoltaic power plants waiting to be connected to the grid has increased by about 40%, said chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Agency (EWRA) Ivan Ivanov on Thursday after the end of the meeting of the Energy Committee in the National Assembly. He added that there could be bigger sanctions against energy companies, but such sanctions could be introduced by the National Assembly. "It is normal that there will be an increase in the penalties because they were introduced much earlier. On the other hand, the violations are such that a one-year delay leads to very serious losses for those who wait for connection," Ivanov said.

The EWRA chairman added that there have been delays of more than a year in connecting photovoltaic plants to the grid. Because of these delays, there are investors wondering whether they should give up.

During a meeting of the Energy Committee in the National Assembly, GERB MP Delyan Dobrev EWRA chairman Ivan Ivanov said they were worried that electricity distribution companies (EDCs) were delaying projects of investors in photovoltaic plants for far too long. Dobrev described this as an abuse by the EDCs of "their monopoly position" and pointed out that many investors had taken out loans on which they were paying interest. He believes that the EDCs do not care that investors wait for years and thus accumulate losses. The MP believes that because of this, a penalty should be considered for the producers, with the electricity distribution companies being fined for lost benefits.