Despite the that global energy production and consumption has intensified to an extent that could spell the end of human civilisation, the world could not fully renounce conventional sources of energy in favour of alternative ones, Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov told the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) on March 5.

Nevertheless, Bulgaria will meet its renewable energy resources targets with the EU, Dimitrov said. To recall, Bulgaria pledged that by 2020 the share of renewable energy sources would reach 16 per cent of its total energy output, greenhouse gas emissions would go down by 20 per cent and the share of biofuels would be one tenth of total fuel output.

Dimitrov's statement came alongside an alert the same day that the share of electricity produced from energy sources in Bulgaria declined by 30 per cent last year versus 2006. Dimcho Kunev, chief of the forecasting, development and scientific research department at power grid operator NEC, told a Sofia-hosted forum on investments in wind and hydropower plants that the decline was attributable to temporary slowdown in hydro-power plants production and that the country still ran the potential to reach its renewable energy targets through 2020.

According to Dimitrov, the energy policy of Bulgaria is consonant with the pragmatic rationale of using the entire energy mix in stock. It includes hydro-power plants, plants on the Danube river included; solar and wind facilities; the construction of a new nuclear power plant; the development of the energy infrastructure such as Nabucco and South Stream gas pipelines; two new oil pipelines – Bourgas-Alexandroupolis and Bourgas-Vlore; and a new lignite coal-fired plant.