site.btaSolar Power Plant Owners Stage National Protest, Temporarily Block Sofia-Ruse Road

Owners of solar power plants (SPP) staged a national protest on Wednesday, blocking the Sofia-Ruse Road at the cloverleaf interchange of the village of Yasen near Pleven for some 20 minutes at 9 a.m. The owners resent the newly introduced Methodology for Determining Balancing Electricity Prices which, in their opinion, has led to exorbitant prices for balancing energy and dooms to bankruptcy the renewable energy sources sectors, endangers the financial security of the market and the security of the entire energy system.

One of the organizers of the protest, Velin Bogdanov, told reporters that solar power plant owners in Bulgaria have greater costs than revenues, meaning it is a matter of time before they all shut down. "With this Methodology they are killing all of us, every last one of us. […] Over 50% of the electricity is now generated by photovoltaics and wind turbines. If we shut down, electricity will become much more expensive. Let the Methodology change, let us not go bankrupt. Many people have bet everything and have to pay contributions to banks," Bogdanov added.

SPP owners are adamant that they will stage their next protest in front of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission building in Sofia if no changes are introduced to the Methodology for Determining Balancing Electricity Prices. According to them, the balancing fee should not exceed BGN 20 per MWh.