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Energy · Grids · Technology transitions

The energy transition – with data, not myths.

Articles, TV appearances and podcasts by Simeon Beloreshki – each article with a short brief in Bulgarian and English.

Archive · 27

10 April 2026
Capital

Shale gas, Bulgaria and the tortoise that beats the hare in the end

Comparing Botev's landing with today's quest for independence, the author says shale gas returns like a "zombie" before every election. The moratorium was imposed over Gazprom's interests, but shale is not a solution today – Poland failed to produce, the risks are environmental and seismic, and the technology is imported and costly. He reads Pompeo's visit as an "active measure" and proposes alternatives: coalbed methane, stakes in foreign upstream projects, deeper integration with the Western bloc.

shale gas · Gazprom · Pompeo · moratorium · Poland · independence
22 February 2026
Capital

Germany and its successful energy transition

To the 2020 myths come new ones: that Germany erred by closing its nuclear plants, is de-industrialising and that the transition has failed. The author explains the nuclear exit as a mix of Fukushima, the need for grid space for renewables, promised Russian gas and costly, subsidised nuclear (€112–169bn of subsidies per a Bundestag document), and blames chemical-industry troubles on the war and the end of cheap gas, not on renewables. His conclusion: Europe should electrify and the war in Ukraine must end.

Germany · nuclear power · Merkel · Russian gas · chemical industry · disinformation
7 June 2025
Capital

Is inertia needed in the power grid?

"Inertia" is a legacy of synchronous machines: grid balance needs fast response, which batteries – especially grid-forming ones – deliver in milliseconds, shown with Hornsdale data. Classical inertia stays critical for the next 10–20 years but is not strictly necessary in the long run.

inertia · batteries · frequency · grid-forming · Hornsdale
1 May 2025
Capital

Spain blackout – what we have learnt

Days after the Iberian blackout, the author argues responsibility for mass outages always lies with grid operation, not with renewables. He examines and dismisses the popular explanations – too much solar, lack of inertia, interconnectors – and floats a hypothesis about inter-area oscillations and stabiliser settings.

Spain · blackout · inertia · renewables · ESO · disinformation
16 March 2025
Capital

A new world order? No, a new world chaos

Technological leaps – renewables and the shale revolution – redirect money flows and shift power: China leads solar, wind and batteries; the US is a net oil-and-gas exporter, but long-term exposed to falling gas demand in China and Europe. He reads the February 2025 Riyadh meeting as a new "energy cartel", US governance changes (DOGE, Project 2025) as corporations becoming the state, and big data/AI as a chance for planned economies, and argues that without international agreements the transition will breed conflict.

geopolitics · China · USA · shale gas · renewables · international agreements
20 October 2024
Capital

Long live electric cars, not hydrogen cars!

A follow-up after readers' reactions: the author answers the most common EV myths (range, charging time, charger prices, grid, winter, used cars, subsidies), estimates the oil demand already displaced (2.5–3 mb/d) and explains the "roar" against EVs by a $2.1 trillion-a-year oil market. In the long run EVs will dominate because of China, and hydrogen cars have no future.

electric vehicles · hydrogen · oil · China · Tesla · charging infrastructure
11 April 2024
Capital

The electric car – to be or not to be

Opening with a jab at past predictions about combustion engines, gas and EVs, the author tells of replacing a 13-year-old Corolla with a 60 kWh EV (12.6–18 kWh/100 km, regenerative braking) and its side effects (more driving, deceptive sense of speed, charging waits). The facts – Tesla, BYD, 1.5–2 million barrels a day displaced, refineries at risk – plus China and Texas, make the shift irreversible in his view.

electric vehicles · regenerative braking · charging · oil · refineries · China
26 February 2024
Capital

How long will we wait for the grid?

After a winter outage that left over half a million households without power, the author notes that Bulgaria was first to win €197m from the EU Modernisation Fund for three distribution-company projects and one ESO project, yet six months on the money has not been allocated, no contracts are signed, and renewable connection requests exceed 40 GW. He warns that the two-year deadline and the Recovery Plan are at risk, calls for anticipatory grid investment and accountability, and asks whether the cause is lack of leadership rather than sabotage.

power distribution · Modernisation Fund · Recovery and Resilience Plan · distribution companies · charging infrastructure
10 December 2023
Capital

Grid physics vs. syndicates and the carp-hunting grids

After the agreement with striking miners, MP Vladislav Panev asked the minister about a clause banning reserve capacity "with power electronics" – i.e. batteries. The author splits the minister's reply into correct, "slippery" and false parts, uses a tightrope-walker analogy to show rotating-mass inertia is small (≈110 kWh per 100 MW turbine) and can be replaced by fast control, and concludes the clause is lobby-driven to prolong coal plants' operation.

inertia · batteries · trade unions · miners · ESO · frequency regulation
29 October 2023
Capital

Wasted sunsets … and wires

Bulgaria's grid was built for 9–12 GW loads while today's peaks are about 7 GW, so there is room for much more renewable capacity without vast investment. The obstacles are distribution companies' financial model (the network charge is 110% of the energy price) and the idle Chaira pumped-storage plant; the author proposes an access fee, time-of-use tariffs, smart meters and a new pumped-storage plant at Batak–Dospat, which could make Bulgaria a regional leader by 2030.

Bulgaria · grid · distribution companies · Chaira pumped storage · renewables · tariffs
7 October 2023
Capital

The temperature of the sick Earth

Without citing scientific data, only logic, the author explains how farming, fertilisers and fuels shift the carbon balance and treats the climate crisis as a symptom of a broader civilisational crisis. The key, he says, is to stop wasting two-thirds of our energy as heat rather than wait for new technologies; a new financial model that does not simply reward growth is needed – as seen in the ADNOC chief's role as COP28 president.

climate · CO₂ · COP28 · energy efficiency · financial model
1 April 2023
Capital

China: Give me coal!

When China approved over 100 GW of new coal units, the author argues it is neither a "coal revolution" nor the "end of green policy": China's 1 TW+ coal fleet can't be replaced quickly, and new ultra-supercritical units (45–50% efficiency, low minimum load) serve as balancing plant. Fear of gas and LNG supply cut-offs also explains the push into renewables. Lessons for Bulgaria: the coal technology isn't for us; accelerate solar and wind.

China · coal · ultra-supercritical units · gas · LNG · emissions
8 October 2022
Capital

Germany is actually doing very well with the energy crisis

Treating the Ukraine war as a stress test, the author draws lessons: local resources don't guarantee low prices (UK, Bulgaria) and a large nuclear share is a risk (France importing 7–8 GW). Germany copes better thanks to diversification, over 40% renewables with zero fuel cost, reserve plants and overcapacity (222 GW vs a 75–80 GW peak), and stays a net exporter.

Germany · energy crisis · France · renewables · prices · gas
16 July 2022
Capital

The redundant nuclear units and the happy moment for the Maritsa Basin

Two years after his piece on nuclear's decline, the author revisits the debate on Kozloduy's closed small units. Using an undated report on repairs at units 5 and 6 (35 vs 144 days, 93% capacity factor), the history of Belene's equipment and the World Bank and Mitsui modernisation of Maritsa East 2, he argues that closing the old units did not bring a system collapse, higher prices or a shrinking economy. He ends with questions about remaining reactor life, spent fuel and who protects the public interest.

Kozloduy NPP · Belene · Maritsa East · repairs · small units
22 September 2021
Capital

California – one year after the power-cut regime

A year after California's rolling blackouts the author checks whether the fixes work: June 2021 peaked at 41 GW rather than the feared 47, batteries discharged ~773 MW versus 310 MW in 2020, and demand response (OhmConnect) expanded. Risks remain – drought, Diablo Canyon's closure, battery fires (Moss Landing) – but California will speed up renewables and storage, as Texas follows.

California · batteries · demand management · drought · Diablo Canyon
1 August 2021
Capital

Are only politicians to blame for the deadlock in the energy sector?

Ahead of elections the author turns "who is to blame?" into "what have we – specialists and society – failed to do?": Maritsa East 2 has been losing money with no plans, management is paralysed, and there is no impartial analysis (gas vs grids, hydrogen vs water, batteries, energy co-operatives). His conclusion: we expect more from politicians than we demand of ourselves.

politics · Maritsa East · coal · governance · hydrogen · cooperatives
3 April 2021
Capital

Hydrogen revolution or the next bitcoin

Describes the Australia–Japan hydrogen supply chain – hydrogen from coal in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, CO₂ storage in Wyoming and shipping to Kobe (Kawasaki, J-Power, Shell Japan, AGL): pilot in 2021, commercial phase around 2030 – as an example of the stakes in the hydrogen "gold rush".

hydrogen · Kawasaki · Australia · Japan · CCS
13 February 2021
Capital

Batteries in big energy: what don't we understand?

Beginning with Musk's 100-day bet and the Hornsdale battery in South Australia (2017), the author debunks the idea that batteries merely "buy cheap, sell dear", showing with 2018–19 data that they respond in milliseconds, can replace inertia and cut frequency-control costs by about A$116 million. He concludes that Bulgaria lacks Australia's political will and risk capital but can catch up.

batteries · Hornsdale · frequency · inertia · pumped storage · Australia
28 November 2020
Capital

Seven myths about energy from the Sun

Opening with the sun-god Amon Ra, the author notes the Sun is the origin of almost all fuels and busts seven solar myths – low efficiency, high cost, unstable grid, huge land use, slowing civilisation, dependence on subsidy and the need for gas backup – citing Portuguese auctions (€11.14/MWh), German grid reliability and a land-use comparison with Maritsa East 2.

solar energy · photovoltaics · myths · price · grid
15 November 2020
Capital

The Green Deal's effect could be even bigger than that of computers

Starting from a 1980s joke about computers, the author lists the trends he expects to define the change: collapse of coal into a balancing role, batteries replacing gas peakers, capital leaving oil, hydrogen, the Biden effect. For Bulgaria he lists what has not been done (alternative gas supply, Chiren storage, rooftop solar, geothermal, offshore wind, EVs) and what grows despite the state.

Green Deal · coal · batteries · hydrogen · Bulgaria · Maritsa East
1 November 2020
Capital

California's electricity regime accelerates renewables and batteries

Reading the preliminary CAISO/CPUC/CEC report on California's August 2020 rolling blackouts, the author shows the cause was not renewables but planning for extreme heat, missing evening capacity and day-ahead market practices; two gas plants failed at the critical moment. His conclusion: the processes are manageable, batteries will accelerate, and "baseload" is not even mentioned in the report.

California · blackout · batteries · renewables · baseload
25 October 2020
Capital

The planet doesn't need saving – humanity does

The Green Deal, the author says, is not a bureaucrats' whim but a 40-year process running from Energiewende (1980) through Thatcher and Al Gore to Greta. Climate communication erred by selling fear, so he argues for showing personal benefits – cheap rooftop power, heat pumps, independence. Germany, Denmark, the UK and Portugal show it works, but the fossil industry, GDP effects and fuel excise stand in the way.

Green Deal · climate · communication · Germany · Denmark · subsidies
24 May 2020
Capital

The future energy reality

Part two: the price of electricity is not the figure on your bill but society's total energy cost (a University of Texas study with 9 cost areas and 15 aspects). The author argues energy should be expensive where alternatives exist (households) and supported where they don't (business), and warns that a decentralised system threatens utilities' business models. Using the Airbus A380 analogy and Europe's energy-independence interest, he explains why he is optimistic.

electricity price · decentralisation · Green Deal · Europe · business models
10 May 2020
Capital

How civilization evolves with less energy

The author "proves" as a theorem that developed societies can grow while using less energy and that a switch to renewable electricity is cheaper: LLNL data on US energy (67% is lost as waste heat), the Pecan Street heat-pump study in Texas and the Stanford 143-country roadmap. Part 2 on the Green Deal follows.

energy efficiency · electrification · heat pumps · Stanford · renewables
29 April 2020
Capital

Greta, coronavirus and other "revolutions"

Using the "Greta" phenomenon and the coronavirus, the author argues science warned early on both climate and pandemics, yet politicians and publics reacted late, amid disinformation. He rejects the idea that progress requires ever more energy and says we need "more Gretas" so that people listen to scientists rather than populists.

climate · coronavirus · populism · disinformation · Greta Thunberg
12 April 2020
Capital

Nuclear power was the future

Opening with a personal memory of the Kozloduy construction site, the author sets nuclear's promises – inexhaustible fuel, reliable baseload, cheap power – against reality: decline after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, dependence on state support and military links (Hinkley Point C at £92.50/MWh) and the uncertain future of small modular reactors. He doubts the benefits apply to Bulgaria and ends with the Sun as the "reactor of the future".

nuclear plant · Kozloduy · Belene · SMR · Hinkley Point · nuclear energy
11 March 2020
Capital

Seven myths about Germany's energy transition

Ten years into Germany's Energiewende, the author tests seven common myths – from "renewables raise power prices" to "wind turbines slaughter birds" – against OECD, Energy-Charts, IMF and Stanford data. His conclusion: German households spend a smaller share of income on electricity, the grid is reliable, Germany is a net exporter and its economy kept growing.

Germany · Energiewende · renewables · prices · subsidies

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