Energy sources utilization in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in the South-eastern Europe on a territory of 111 thousands km2. Its population is about 7.7 millions (2004). In the Northern part of the country the climate is temperate continental and in the Southern part the influence of the Mediterranean climate can be noticed. The average temperature in the winter is 1° C and in the summer is 21°C. Bulgaria joined the EU on January 1st, 2007.

The country is highly dependent on energy an import which covers 60 to 70% of its energy needs. These imports were about 20% of the total imports for the country in 2003 and came mainly from the Russian Federation. From this point of view the reduced and rationalised energy consumption and generation, including the wider introduction of renewable energy sources will be beneficial for the Bulgarian economy and the security of energy supply. Some of the basic indicators that characterize the utilization of energy resources in Bulgaria are presented in table 2.
Table 2: Energy sources utilization in Bulgaria

	year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005e
TPES	ktoe	19 227	19 470	19 205	19 604	20 441	21 030
Coal	%	35%	37%	34%	38%	39%	39%
Oil	%	22%	21%	23%	24%	24%	25%
Natural gas	%	15%	14%	13%	13%	13%	13%
Nuclear energy	%	26%	27%	28%	23%	22%	20%
Hydro energy	%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Electricity (export)	%	-2%	-3%	-3%	-2%	-2%	-2%
Wood, etc.	%	3%	3%	3%	4%	4%	4%
TPES/pppGDP	ktoe/$95p	0.445	0.433	0.407	0.399	0.395	0.386
TFC	ktoe	8435	8414	8521	9179	9678	10127
TFC/pppGDP	ktoe/$95p	0.195	0.187	0.187 0.1	0.187	0.187	0.186
TFC/TPES	%	0.439	0.432	0.4	0.468	0.474	0.482

As shown on the table the country is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. On the other hand, the share of renewables and natural gas is very low.