Energy giants interested in investing in Bulgaria

“French Gaz de France intends to invest €100 mln in power plants for the processing of biomass in our country. The company plans to build four plants in Bulgarian towns,” announced yesterday the Minister of Agriculture and Food Miroslav Naydenov after opening the Forest Week. “Interest in the processing of biomass was also expressed by Spanish and Bulgarian companies,” Naydenov added. Such projects, according to him, will lead to the use of waste from forests and agriculture, and to the construction of an infrastructure in forests.

In recent years, Bulgarian forests have been increasing annually by some 40,000 dca. Currently, excess biomass is not being used and has been left to rot. The Renewable Energy Sources Act, which is being discussed at second reading in Parliament, stipulates regulations for the use of biomass for energy, but the provisions are still to be specified.

The heads of the U.S. company Westinghouse are expected to arrive in Bulgaria at the end of this month to discuss the development of nuclear energy in our country with PM Boyko Borissov and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov. This became clear after yesterday’s meeting between Traikov and the U.S. Ambassador to Sofia, H.E. James Warlick, the Energy Ministry announced. Anders Jackson, President of Westinghouse for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the company’s Executive Director and Vice President for Europe, Jose Gutierrez, are expected to visit Bulgaria. At the meeting, the Americans will present the possibilities of their nuclear reactor AP 1000.

More than a year ago, Japan’s Toshiba, which is the owner of Westinghouse, presented its new nuclear reactor to the Bulgarian authorities but it was not certified for operation by U.S. regulators at the time. Then, it became clear that the Japanese are interested in building a new nuclear unit at the site of the Kozloduy NPP.

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