Bulgaria would be forced to import electricity soon as it experienced energy shortages after partially closing its only nuclear power plant at kozloduy in 2006, forbes.com quoted Bulgarian daily Trud.

"Bulgaria, which only a year ago was a major electricity exporter in the Balkans, will have to start importing electricity in January 2008," Trud commented.

Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEC) said in a report that electricity shortages in 2008 were expected to amount to 1.324 billion KwH, or 3.4 per cent of total consumption, Forbes said.

Until the end of October 2007, Bulgaria had been able to export two billion KwH of electricity, Forbes said. But coal shortages and the necessity to partially shut down a thermal power plant because of environmental concerns would bring the country's export capacity in 2008 to zero, Forbes quoted the NEC report.

Bulgaria signed a contract in 2006 for the construction of two 1 000 megawatt reactors at a new nuclear plant at Belene in order to compensate, Forbes said.

Construction was scheduled to begin in 2008, with the first reactor expected to be operational by January 2014 and the second a year later, Forbes said.