It doesn't matter whether Bulgaria is an importer or exporter of electricity. Whether we are an exporter should not be a panacea, because we are a common market and Bulgarian consumers should use the cheapest possible electricity in southeastern Europe, said Angelin Tsachev, Executive Director of ESO, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
"Currently, Bulgaria is a net exporter of electricity and compared to the first half of 2024, the growth in exports is nearly 2,500%, in 2024 for this period we exported 48,000 megawatt hours, while in 2025 we have reached 1,260,000 megawatt hours of electricity", he said.
According to him, the results are good from the point of view that "we export a lot of energy because we produce a lot of renewable".
Tsachev pointed out that our electricity system is calm and secure:
"Production reaches 50-60 and exceeds 70% of the energy mix, but due to good interconnection and a balanced mix with a sufficient number of rotating tables, our system is sufficiently secure and sustainable. And there should be no concern among Bulgarian consumers."
He shared that with the heat, 5,000 megawatts have not yet been transferred from consumers," which means that the air conditioners are not working enough yet, but it will happen in the coming days". And the operators' forecast for next week is that consumption will remain within the range of 3,400 to 4,800 megawatts.
"We are far from the peak consumption last summer. This year, May and June were cooler and this gave our power system a breath of air," Tsachev admitted.
He warned that the water in the dams is not enough and we must have reserves, because we do not know what autumn, winter and spring await us.
And whether the water will be enough:
"It depends on the amount used and consumed for irrigation. We must save the water for extreme cases. In Plovdiv, due to an electric shock, the water supply pumps have stopped and this means that there have been, are and will be accidents. We are never 100% guaranteed against such events. We need to do it so that we can conserve more water."
Tsachev commented that 611 million leva from the EC under the PVP, of which 370 million leva is a grant, is going towards a project to develop networks for connecting more renewable sources.
"The money is going towards developing the network for automating processes in the substations of the electricity operator," he said.