The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) has adopted its annual report for 2020. The annual report includes detailed information on the work of the Commission in the sectors – “Electricity and heat”, “Natural gas”, “Water and Sewerage Services”. The report contains current information on the operation of the electricity and gas market.
The used data for the installed capacities connected to the transmission network and the generated electricity in 2019 and 2020 are provided by ESO EAD. The total electricity produced by power plants is 33,795,104 MWh. When analyzing the differences between the generation in 2020, compared to 2019, the following trends are observed: decrease in the production from lignite thermal power plants (-21.93%), increase of the production from NPPs (0.48%), TPPs using black and brown coal (1.43%), TPPs using natural gas (6.15%), HPPs (1.53%) and RES (11.10%).
In 2020, the traded volumes on the day-ahead market of the Independent Bulgarian energy exchange (IBEX) increased by 7,033,945 MWh or by 45.5% compared to 2019. This is the largest increase in volume in absolute number, as for the previous years the increase was 2,358,003 MWh. The total amount of electricity traded on the platforms of IBEX EAD for 2020 is 24,087 GWh, with 15,452 GWh on the day-ahead market, 923 GWh on the intraday market, 7,377 GWh on the Auctions screen and 335 GWh on Continuous trading screen.
Bulgaria is a net importer of electricity from Romania, Serbia and Turkey in 2020 and a net exporter to Greece and Macedonia. In general, the country remains a net exporter in the region with 3,408,611 MWh, which is below the average levels of previous years. Bulgaria exports the largest quantities to Greece, as the Greek market is traditionally the most expensive on the Balkans. The data also show a significant increase in cross-border trading between Bulgaria and Romania in 2020 compared to 2019. It is expected the volumes exchange between the two countries to grow even more given the forthcoming market coupling, planned for mid-2021. Electricity imports from Serbia increased significantly by 43% in 2020, compared to 2019.
Source: Annual report of the Energy and water regulatory commission (EWRC)
