Bulgaria's solar thermal market

Bulgaria is one of the small solar thermal markets in the European Union. According to the latest data published by ESTIF (in June 2012, regarding 2011) this market size is 10,800 sqm of panels. Of this amount 10,000 sqm are flat plate collectors and 800 sqm are vacuum collectors. The good news is that the market is growing from 2009 and 2010.

From the data revealed by the market it seems that 2012 will have a value that almost equals the value of 2011, approximately 11,000 sqm. On this market there is a strong dispute between the three domestic manufacturers: NES-New Energy Systems Ltd., Tesy Ltd. si Eldominvest Ltd. All three companies have SolarKeymark certified products and a wide and scalable range of products.

Another characteristic of the Bulgarian market regards the continues struggle for the lowest price in the market and the support scheme given by the state which involves a subsidy of loans for solar installations.

Frimu Ghinea