In 2023, 50% of disturbances in the European energy system are caused by Bulgaria, 30% by France, and 20% by other countries. This was said by the executive director of the Electricity System Operator (ESO), Angelin Tsachev, at a hearing in the Energy Committee of the Parliament.
The reason is the lack of balancing abilities. Tsachev recalled that last April 9, Bulgaria was controlled due to the lack of opportunity to balance the electricity surplus caused by RES. The rest reached more than 1076 megawatts within 1 hour. 900 megawatts were taken out of the country without planning, which subsequently led to frequency problems in Europe and this required the implementation of an emergency procedure, which cost the ESO a fine of €900,000. The fine of the French operator was 1 million euros, because another 1,100 megawatts were unplanned from there.
According to the ESO, our country cannot rely on European balancing platforms, as each country is responsible for its own balancing.
The Director of the Central Department of ESO, Dimitar Zarchev, confirmed that in the last two years, with the faster penetration of photovoltaics, the operator experiences problems at times when production is high from them, but also low load. This happens in spring and autumn. He pointed out that the quantitative limits that the ESO should have achieved last year were exceeded by 258%. This happens because of too much electricity.
“We have no problem managing the system when it is in a state of shortage, but only in a state of surplus,” Zarchev said. He pointed out that in the previous days, around 2,500 megawatts produced from photovoltaic plants during daytime hours at a system load of 3,200-3,300 megawatts. Some of this energy was produced, but photovoltaic renewable energy production throughout the region at that time was high .This restricts prices, but leads to some bad practices from traders.
The other problem is that the difference in this production is from 0 to 2500 megawatts in 4-5 hours, and then it disappears while the load remains. Therefore, the need for mobility capabilities is becoming more and more important, Zarchev emphasized.
For the first three months of this year, due to the warm weather, Bulgaria is again responsible for a surplus of electricity at the level of continental Europe. At this time, measures have not yet been taken against our country as a violator, but this is expected to happen, Zarchev also said.
ESO will propose specific legislative changes to make the work in the system easier. One of the possible solutions is to use old generators in the thermal power plants to become part of the network assets. The aim is to ensure the dynamic stability of the system.
The other measure is investments in mobility capabilities. “We need something to store energy. These capabilities must be managed by the operator, because in this way they will be available 24 hours a day and 365 days a year,” said Tsachev.
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2024-04-19 16:55:20
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