News
CATEGORY: Socioeconomic development
LOCATION: Bulgaria
START/END: 2015-2020
CLIENT: Ministry of Energy
ORIGIN OF FUNDING: EBRD
PROJECT VALUE: 738.762
LDK’s BUDGET SHARE: 100%
STAFF PROVIDED: 12
Type of Services
The specific role of the DGP Consultant is to:
- provide assistance for the preparation of the Project’s operational procedures and implementation tools, defining the eligibility criteria for the selection of eligible installers, materials and equipment;
- assist in the Project’s management according to national legislation and the requirements of the KIDSF and EBRD;
- assist the Ministry of Energy to meet the requirements of the Grant Agreement with the EBRD, monitoring and reporting on the Project’s performance, including ongoing data collection, gathering and analysing information, tracking progress, monitoring of grant applications and grants awarded, systematic reporting. Ongoing evaluation of relevance of applications, efficiency and effectiveness of grant scheme implementation, and potential impact assessment.
LDK’s experts are in close contact with the Ministry of Energy and the EBRD, in order to develop the procedures and implementation tools taking into account the needs of the Bulgarian households and the Gas Companies’ capacities to implement the grant programme.
The first series of deliverables, completed for the commencement of the grant scheme, were:
- D1: detailed Work Programme, Stakeholder Mapping, Quality Control Manual
- D2, D4, D6: Procedures for operation and disbursement of funds, including Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry of Energy and Gas Distribution Companies
- D3: Eligibility criteria for beneficiaries, technical measures, selection of eligible installers and list of eligible materials and equipment
- D5: Interactive web-based database
- D7: Communication campaign strategy
- D8: Form of selection approval certificate, implementation verification certificate and payment verification certificate.
Following the commencement of the grant programme, the DGP Consultant is providing ongoing support to its operation, monitoring and reporting.
This includes, amongst others, maintenance and troubleshooting of the online database, updating of all official forms and templates as needed, close ongoing communication with all applicants to ensure that the applications are correctly submitted and complete.
All stages of the grant programme are monitored. Each grant application is registered and its data (incl. financial data) is kept updated during the process. In addition to monitoring the overall grant programme, financial monitoring of the programme is also the responsibility of the DGP Consultant. All the monitoring data is available to the ME, facilitating any necessary reviews (or fine-tuning) of the programme.
The DGP Consultant is in close communication with client, and monthly and quarterly technical and financial reports are submitted.
Description
The Ministry of Energy of Bulgaria (ME), in the framework of the National Programme for Accelerated Gasification (“National Programme for Gasification”), is using grant support provided by the KIDSF (Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund, managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD), for the provision of incentives to households to connect to gas distribution networks. This assistance for the residential sector is being delivered through the establishment of a Demand Side Residential Energy Efficiency (DESIREE) Financing Facility, operating via the Gas Distribution Companies of Bulgaria.
The DESIREE GAS Project aims to provide a dedicated and effective mechanism to support and increase the use of gas by Bulgarian households, in line with requirements of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive requiring Member States to develop energy efficiency financing mechanisms.
The Project promotes top-performing technologies and supports the fuel switch from carbon intensive electricity to friendlier natural gas. A positive consequence of the program will be the reduction of energy use and carbon emissions in the residential sector of Bulgaria.
The Project aims to achieve:
- Support the gasification and installation of high efficiency boilers in about 10,000 households.
- Total electricity equivalent savings estimated at about 142 000 MWh per year;
- Additional energy savings of 70,000 MWh per year, anticipated for fuel switch projects from coal, biomass and oil to natural gas due to higher efficiency of combustion;
- About 213kWh to be saved per 1 EUR of grant support over average economic lifetime of 15 years;
- GHG emission reduction of 70,000 tCO2 per year or more than 1.0 million tons of CO2 over the economic lifetime of equipment installed.
The countrywide gasification of households will contribute to the:
- increase of the security of electricity supply through savings on the direct use of electricity;
- increase of energy efficiency within the heating and hot water supply system.
