Bulgaria spearheads COP29 initiative to bring down electricity prices

Sofia: A Bulgarian-led initiative to bring down electricity prices by improving energy interconnection in the region of southeastern Europe was backed by eight countries at COP29 in Baku.

The project was announced by Bulgarian energy minister Vladimir Malinov, in the presence of the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, and the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The event took place at the Bulgarian pavilion at COP29 in Baku.

Malinov said that knowledge exchange between regional partners is “one of the key factors” to develop power systems which can handle “the modern challenges of integrating renewable energy.”

Upgrading existing energy connections will allow cheap clean energy from the wind farms of Northern Europe to reach lower latitudes, the minister said. He added that that improving energy connections will also allow for the delivery of clean energy from Egypt to central Europe.

The non-paper tabled by Malinov received the support of the energy ministers of Greece, Romania, the Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, and Moldova, as well as Hungary, which holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, and Azerbaijan as host of COP29.

“Through this informal document, you have raised a critical issue,” said the Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.

He added: “We are all on the same side, in the same team. You don’t have to look very far. Just look at the energy price map today. I am particularly sympathetic to Hungary, which is the European champion of high prices,” the minister said.

Recent high power prices in southeastern Europe have prompted countries in the region to call for action.

“Our vision is to hold a series of technical and political structured dialogues (…) over the coming months” said Malinov, who added that a February meeting in Sofia will define the scope of dialogue and identify where the initiative can be taken further.

“For Hungary, the Bulgarian initiative is very important because it is a symbol of building connectivity between our countries”, said the Hungarian State Secretary for Security Policy and Energy Security, Peter Sztaray.

In this regard, he drew attention to one of the important initiatives in which Hungary is participating, and Bulgaria is joining – the Green Energy Corridor, together with Azerbaijan, Romania, Georgia, Hungary.

“This is a very important project because it connects Central and Eastern Europe with the Caucasus region and perhaps later with Central Asia. We need to implement it, because otherwise we will not survive. But if we want to survive and have energy security, then we must cooperate,” Sztaray said.

Victor Parlicov, Minister of Energy of Moldova, who was also present at the launch, emphasised that his country’s goal is to become part of the European energy market before joining the EU.

He recalled the problems with energy supplies caused by the war in Ukraine.

“The country today needs to import electricity in the volume in which it exported before the war,” he said. Earlier in the day, the energy ministers of Bulgaria and Moldova signed a memorandum on energy cooperation and mutual assistance.

In October, twelve EU member states called on the European Commission to support the creation of cross-border energy links, especially electricity interconnections, to reduce energy prices in the EU.