Bulgaria's report on the total share of renewable energy sources (RES) in its energy mix may be delayed due to a terminated consultancy tender.

The competitive selection of a consulting firm to draft a report on Bulgaria's progress in the sphere was suspended by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Capital Daily reported.

The study is to show whether Bulgaria met its binding indicative 11% renewable energy target and is to be submitted with the European Commission by the end of 2011.

In August, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism launched a small-scale public procurement procedure for the selection of a consultancy which would be tasked with preparing the analysis.

A total of 4 companies filed their bids, but only Denkstatt Bulgaria reached the stage of the opening of the offers.

According to Boyan Rashev, Managing Partner at denkstatt, as cited by Capital Daily, although their bid received the approval of the commission, no contract was signed.

In end-October, denkstatt sent a letter to the Energy Ministry asking for swifter action in order to avoid a repeat of last year's situation when Bulgaria lost its carbon trade accreditation.

The firm received a letter signed by Deputy Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev saying that the procedure for the selection of consultancy had been suspended for unspecified reasons.

Energy Ministry Officials told Capital daily that the report would be prepared by their experts but did not explain the motives behind their decision.

Last year, representatives of the renewable energy industry predicted that Bulgaria would not be able to meet its indicative11% target by end-2011.

An analysis of the Bulgarian Association of Producers of Ecological Energy claims that the country has only achieved a 7.3% share of renewable energy in its total energy consumption.

The data substantially diverges from reports of the Energy Ministry saying that Bulgaria is overfullfilling its indicative target, reaching a 15% share of RES in its total energy consumption.

The government is is under obligation to submit reports on Bulgaria's renewable energy introduction progress energy every two years until 2021.

The first such report is to be approved by mid-2012 if Bulgaria wishes to avoid the launch of yet another infringement procedure by the EC.

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