| © ICIS HEREN - Turkey and Bulgaria to resume commercial flows this month |
| 2010-10-05 |
| Bulgaria is set to have an export capacity of 150MW to Turkey from October, which could rise to 500MW from January, according to analysts. Some traders anticipated an increase of €5.00/MWh in Bulgarian Baseload prices to €45.00/MWh when the two countries start commercial flows on 24 October. However, Christo Christov, senior analyst at the Bulgarian Energy Institute, rebuffed the claims, insisting that Bulgarian prices, which are regulated, were unlikely to change in the short term. "Prices might change if we see a rebound in the economy," he added. Bulgaria exports a monthly average of 1.6GWh to neighbouring countries including Romania, Serbia, Greece. Although it levies an export tax, estimated at €10.70/MWh, analysts say it makes sense for Turkey to buy electricity from the Balkan countries. Spot power contracts in Turkey currently trade in the €50.00-60.00/MWh range. Turkey re-synchronised its grid to the European electricity network in September after the existing two 400kV power lines were disconnected in 2003 because of a political spat (see EDEM 20 September 2010). But the two countries decided to resume the flows as Turkey is currently undergoing an increase in power demand sparked by a booming economy. This week, the Turkish and Bulgarian energy ministers, Taner Yildiz and Traiko Traikov, met in Bulgaria to approve the commercial flow agreement. In a separate move, the Turkish treasury signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for €169.2m to finance a project to strengthen and expand the country`s grid. Turkish annual power demand is expected to double to 499TWh by 2020, driven by economic growth, To match the rise in consumption, the country is seeking to double its production capacity to 96GW over the same period. The new capacity will come from a variety of sources. It includes plans for an estimated 12GW of coal- and gas-fired production, an estimated 10GW of nuclear capacity and multiple projects in the renewables sector. (THE ICIS HEREN REPORTS - EDEM 14.192 / 05 October 2010) |
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