SOFIA (Bulgaria), September 18 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday it has signed a contract worth more than 2.0 million euro ($2.77 million) for the purchase of carbon credits from Bulgarian hydro power plant operator Vez Svoghe on behalf of the Netherlands.
Under the contract, Vez Svoghe, a 90/10 joint venture between Italian energy group Petrolvilla and the Bulgarian town of Svoge, will sell 336,462 tonnes of CO2 emissions to the Netherlands as it builds and operates nine small hydro power plants along the river Iskar some 40 kilometres north of the capital Sofia, thus replacing electricity generated by fossil fuels with one derived from renewable sources.
“The value of the project is a little over two million euro,” Jacquelin Ligo, EBRD Director for Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, told reporters after the signing of the contract.
The Netherlands are taking advantage of the Joint Implementation (JI) mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which allows countries and companies with difficulties to keep their emissions within the allocated allowances to buy more credits from other firms or states. Under the protocol, the Netherlands is to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 6.0% from the 1990 levels by 2012.
Under the Kyoto protocol, Bulgaria must cut CO2 emissions in the period 2008-2012 by eight percent from the 1988 levels to 124.08 million tonnes a year.
The EBRD said it planned to purchase carbon credits along another Bulgarian project, entailing electricity production at the Kubratovo wastewater plant 20 kilometres outside Sofia using methane that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere.
“The two projects are expected to achieve reductions in GHG [Greenhouse Gas] emissions of 1.5 million tonnes during 2007-12, the equivalent released annually by 250,000 Dutch households,” the statement said.
“These projects help diversify Bulgaria’s fuel mix. The sale of carbon credits provides an additional incentive that renders these projects viable,” Ligot said in the statement.
EBRD (www.ebrd.org) launched last year its sustainable energy initiative committing to invest 1.5 billion euro in all 29 countries of operation in the next three years.
EBRD is the biggest investor in Bulgaria with over 1.3 billion euro worth of projects across the country.
($ = 0.7213 euro)