TOGETHER FOR A GREEN FUTURE 30 October 2013

Transcription

1 TOGETHER FOR A GREEN FUTURE 30 October 2013 The project representatives from the municipality and the forest of Vetovo, from local farmers and companies and from the university. The Nordic Folkecenter is participating as partner in an EU project with the Bulgarian municipality Vetovo. The mayor s office in Vetovo Map of Bulgaria, Vetovo at the red dot. View from the University in Ruse Ivo Dimitrov and Todor Petrov, project managers, at the market place in Vetovo Study trip program From 7 10 October Preben Maegaard and Mette Krogsager from the Folkecenter participated in a study trip to Ruse and Vetovo, Bulgaria to get acquainted to the conditions on energy production and the possibility to change for renewable energy. As part of the tour we visited the Town Hall in Vetovo, the University of Ruse and a Kaolin Company, we met Welcome by Vice Chancellor of the University 1

2 Students at the lecture given by Preben Maegaard Passing the forest Study trip impression Vetovo, Ruse We were met with well-informed specialists and a mainly positive interest on the subject also a most fertile landscape on the borders of Danube, the large forest owned by the municipality, picturesque villages and the evocative centre of the city Ruse. Fields and the forest Fields, fields, fields Kaolin pit, note also the deep layer of fertile soil above the kaolin. 2

3 Entering Vetovo Entrance at the marketplace in Vetovo Town Hall in Vetovo, under renovation The driveway to Ruse Forest Administration in Vetovo Small part of the central square in Ruse 3

4 The river Danube seen from the city of Ruse, on the other side of the river is Rumania. Study trip impression Bulgaria But also with the impression of a society in a very deep crisis, the last twenty years did not bring hope and prosperity but misfortune and misbelieve in the project of democratization. On western recommendation old fashion maybe but working technical installation as for instance irrigation systems were given up but were replaced by nothing, former markets in the previous USSR were given up and replaced by no new markets in the EU. Cooperatives were given up and the land was sold to rich private investors. Green centre of Ruse Abandoned cooperative 4

5 Heating plant for the Town Hall, the coal is seen behind the green car Conclusion The potentials for renewable energy are obvious. First of all it s a very fertile area with a huge biomass production. Abandoned water pump installation Energy production and distribution Energy production is based on nuclear plants, fossil fuels and wood. In Vetovo, wood fired stoves are used for heating in private homes; only few of them have central heating and most often water is heated up by electricity. For public buildings coal and diesel are used for heating. In Ruse, part of the city has access to district heating from a coal-fired CHP plant, the flats that hasn t, uses individually coal fired stoves and airto-air heat pumps The production of power is (extremely) centralized in Bulgaria while the production of heat is (extremely) decentralized and takes place in the households. A large forest area is owned by the municipality, vegetated by mainly oak, acacia and linden trees with a much larger heating value than the spruce and pine grown in the National Park in Thy. A third part of the yearly production is sold for timber, two third for firewood and still there s a lot of wood collected for free or left in forest plus remnant from timber production. Furthermore the farmland has potential to be harvested twice a year wheat at midsummer and corn in the autumn. This was practiced before the irrigation systems broke down in the 1990 s. Secondly there s a lot of sun in Bulgaria. The yearly irradiation is approximately one and a half times as large as in Denmark. Finally there s a production of waste and must be geothermic heat in the ground. There s only a little wind and hardly any cattle are in the area. Solar Irradiation Map from SolarGIS 5

6 The main barrier is economy. Constrains and possibilities As power production to a significant extent is based on nuclear power it is very difficult to implement pv installations especially in a society troubled by political and economic crisis. Only limited amounts are installed and people have got the impression that green energy is very expensive. The prize of nuclear energy is to be paid in the future and in Bulgaria where nuclear waste so far can be disposed of in Siberia, concerns about these troubles might not be overwhelming. MK / 30. October 2013 As heating on the contrary is so decentralized makes it easier to implement minor improvements step by step and managed by local communities. The municipal program for Vetovo proposing the installation of a small district heating system based on biomass for a limited number of municipal buildings is a very good idea. At least some of the buildings already have new radiators for hot water heating and in the future the system can be extended to cover a larger part of the town as well as different combustion boilers/kettles based on several energy sources (tree, straw, waste) supplemented by solar and eventually geothermic heating. The possibility of in this way establishing a demonstration centre for renewable energy makes it an even better idea. According to Todor Petrov there should be a possibility of establishing of similar heating plants just in Bulgaria. The market is enormously. During our visit we ve got the impression that there s a positive interest amongst farmers and the local administration. Certainly there s knowledge and commitment at the university personified within Todor Petrov, initiator and manager of the project. 6