Photo: Parkarena.bg
Residents of the sunny seaside city of Burgas will be able to invest between EUR 511 and EUR 5,110 each in a municipal solar power plant as part of a citizen energy community. The local authority in eastern Bulgaria plans to install the facility on the roof of the Park Arena OZK indor swimming pool. It promised a fixed total dividend of 30% over a 10-year period.
Swimming and the energy transition in Bulgaria will have something in common. Burgas Municipality said local residents will be able to invest in rooftop photovoltaic unit of 421 kW in peak capacity as part of its pilot citizen energy community. When it adopts the proposal, it intends to issue a call for individual investments of EUR 511 to EUR 5,110 (BGN 1,000 to BGN 10,000).
The project is valued at EUR 209,000, representatives of the local authority, Municipal Energy Efficiency Network EcoEnergy and Center for Energy Efficiency EnEffect (EnEfekt) revealed at an energy efficiency and green energy event. The PV unit would consist of 956 panels of 440 W each and four 100 kW inverters.
Almost no risk
The municipality plans to install it on the indoor swimming pool within its Park Arena OZK sports center. It would pay out the participants gradually over a ten-year period, including an overall dividend of 30%, and gain ownership of the solar power plant.
“The project carries almost no risk, as the municipality is committed to buying the produced energy at fixed prices. The financial indicators of the project are attractive, but its goal is not to make us rich financially, but to make us richer as a society, because the investment in green energy is an investment in the future of the residents of the city of Burgas,” executive director of EnEfect Dragomir Tsanev said.
Municipality to pay EUR 66.4 per MWh
According to the presentation, a participant that invests BGN 1,000 would get BGN 130 back every year for ten years and it is more favorable than a bank deposit with a 3% interest.
Participants in the energy community would get an equivalent of 13% of the sum they invested every year for ten years
More than 80% of the energy produced would be used by the sports center. It consumes 1.69 GWh per year and the PV plant is set to generate 552 MWh, of which a surplus of 72 MWh would be sold on the market. The municipality would buy the electricity at EUR 66.4 per MWh. Annual expenses are estimated at EUR 4,540.
Every member of the energy cooperative gets an equal vote regardless of the amount they invested.
Pilot projects springing up for energy communities, municipal PV plants
The Municipality of Gabrovo has issued a public call in November for individuals, institutions, nongovernmental organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises to establish an energy community via a solar power plant that it built on the site of a regional landfill. The project was launched in cooperation with EnEffect.
A municipality in Bulgaria’s southwest obtained financing for a 3 MW solar power plant
A few years ago, before the energy community legislation was rolled out in Bulgaria, brothers Mihail and Tsvetan Georgiev registered a pilot cooperative as a firm. There are four participants in the community, which owns nine solar panels powering their home in the village of Belozem, where outages are frequent. It is located near Plovdiv.
A group of women from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski have launched an energy community initiative, too.
As for other municipal solar power projects in the country, the local authority in the town of Kresna in the southwest recently secured financing for a 3 MW facility on four hectares.
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