FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES AND RENEWABLE ALTERNATIVES

Öz

The Black Sea region has always been considered a bridge between Europe and Asia. When it comes to the energy sector, the status of all these countries might be different, as some are producers, some rely heavily on imports and some others just serve as corridors. However, the future is one and only and over the last years all these countries have started working in the same direction.

The urgency of the fight against climate change has been acknowledged almost by every country. So far well-known for its role in the gas industry, the Black Sea region is now emerging as a potential renewables hub.

In particular, concerning renewable energy sources, significant advantages have been introduced across the countries, such as feed-in tariffs, renewable energy zones, green certificates, and other attractive incentives.

Today, the local energy demand in the countries of the region is forecast to grow in line with the GDP, with Türkiye alone registering a 5.1 percent electricity demand growth since 2002.

The Black Sea presents strong resources of renewable energy in each of the six surrounding countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, Türkiye, and Russia).

Thanks to the hinterland of this region, the demand will absolutely help to design such a good scenario to shift to 100 percent renewable energy.

Achieving energy security is at the top of the authorities’ agenda for many countries in the region. By the end of 2020, Romania plans to meet the obligations set by the EU in terms of greenhouse gas emissions through its legislative package Climate changes – Renewable Energy. Bulgaria adopted the Renewable Sources Act already in 2011, regulating the generation and consumption of energy from renewable sources. The wind potential is limited in all countries but Romania and Serbia have good water potential. The Black Sea is one sea-basin stirring new interest. The World Bank estimates it has 453 GW of technical offshore wind potential – 269 GW for bottom-fixed and 166 GW for floating offshore wind. The Romanian Parliament is debating a draft Offshore Wind Bill. And Bulgaria is starting to look into offshore wind deployment as well. How much solar do we need to electrify the energy system in the Black Sea and how can we scale the industry up to meet that demand? What are the most promising utility-scale projects in the region?

• Romania plans to add around 3.7 GW of solar by 2030;
• Türkiye plans to commission 10 GW of solar by 2027;
• Bulgaria envisages the installation of 1600 MW of solar between 2020 and 2024.