- Dr. Eng. Dimitar Beleliev is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Energy Repair Base (CERB) EAD – the oldest and largest Bulgarian enterprise for the maintenance of large generating capacities in the energy sector. His experience in the sector is nearly 30 years. He heads “Contact Elements” AD – an enterprise for the production of silver solders. He was Executive Director of “Techenergo” AD, Head of the Supervisory Board of “Energoremont Holding” AD, as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Energoremont Varna” AD and “Energoremont Ruse” AD.
- In 2020, he founded “AmonRa Energy” AD – one of the largest certified centers for the supply of products and solutions for solar energy in the Balkans and the first photovoltaic company listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, BEAM segment. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Association of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (BASEL), as well as the Supervisory Board of KRIB. Master of Economics with a specialty in “Energy Business” from the University of National and World Economy, where he also defended his doctoral degree on the topic “Assessment of Bulgaria’s Energy Security”.
– Mr. Beleliev, “Central Energy Repair Base” EAD is the oldest enterprise in the Balkans for repairs and diagnostics, especially in the energy sector. Tell us what it has been through?
– It started as an engine workshop in 1948, then the activity expanded by adding transformers. The growth of the enterprise itself is directly related to the development of energy in Bulgaria. There are two main activities that it carries out – the maintenance of rotating electrical machines – these are generators and high-voltage motors, and its second activity is transformers – power, special, railway, locomotive. Since in Bulgaria during socialism both the economy and the energy sector grew very quickly, the “workshop” became a fairly large enterprise for the country and for the Balkans. What we found after 1989 is an enterprise with 22 thousand square meters of covered area, with a lot of facilities, with 35-ton cranes. Currently, it is the largest in the Balkans for maintenance and diagnostics of electrical machines.
– How has the ownership of the company changed since 1948?
– It was founded as a state enterprise in 1948 and remained so until 2001. Then the state sold 52% through privatization, and I participated in the management of the enterprise. The executive director then and still is Eng. Alexander Mavrodiev, who has been in this position for over 25 years. Since then, our company “Dibel” has been the owner of the enterprise. But first the state sold 52%, “Energoremont Holding” has 35% and gradually over the next 6-7 years our company bought 100% of the shares. Since 15, the company has been an EAD with one owner.
– If you make a comparison, where do you stand compared to leading companies?
– We are one of the leading companies. With our capacity and expertise, we certainly have no competition with countries from the Balkans. However, this does not mean that we do not compete with Western European companies in this market. Our advantage is that we have quite good expertise and are significantly better economically in our offers. And the fact that taxes and labor costs are relatively lower in Bulgaria allows us to be competitive in terms of price.
– How are you doing in the repair services market? How many companies actually deal with repairs?
– In our country, there is almost no company that deals with repairs of large transformers and almost no companies for the repair of hydro generators. What saved us was that our main activity is focused outside Bulgaria, especially in the last 15 years. If we had concentrated only on our market, things would not have happened. It crashed long ago due to incorrect policies over the last few decades. Now we work in Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Kosovo, Albania. We have had projects in Georgia, Lebanon, Ukraine, Turkey, Syria and we will continue to have them. The work is interesting and when it comes to maintenance and diagnostics, each facility is individual, and this is what is interesting and allows us to gain knowledge and experience.
– For example, the energy sector is mostly state-owned, what is the competition for orders from state-owned companies? I read that your latest projects are with NEK, ESO, “Mini Maritsa-East”, “CEZ Distribution”, and now “ERM West”.
– The truth is that our main contracts and activities are outside the Bulgarian energy sector. Our largest long-term client is the Greek company PPC. We have been winning all the repair tenders that come out and are related to the maintenance of their hydro facilities and electrical part for 15 years. We also have competition, of course – Italian and German companies. However, we win not thanks to lower prices, because these people do not compromise on quality. We also work for the companies you listed in Bulgaria, but unfortunately, less and less. The reason for this is not that we do not win the tenders, there simply are not any. For the last 15 years, there has been only one tender for the repair of a large hydro generator (for comparison, in Greece there are between two and three per year). We had to win this tender three times to be awarded it. Strange thing. We are used to working abroad, and the rules there are very different from those here.
– You have about 200 engineers and specialists working for you. Is there interest in this activity among young people?
– There are two main problems. The first is that there is no unemployment. Especially in Sofia. The second is that the few people we find and train leave the country. And this is a terrible problem that we are powerless to fight. It should be clear here that becoming an operations engineer is relatively easier than a maintenance and repair engineer. In one case you press buttons, in the other you get your hands dirty with oil. We teach them for a few years and they run away to other countries with a more orderly society than ours. Too bad.
– There are many modern innovations, new technologies, if we bring them to you, how do you see the future of the enterprise?
– We are constantly evolving. I’ll give you a few examples. We built the only laboratory in Bulgaria for high-voltage testing of equipment – up to 750 kW. In addition, we made several developments. Every year we have two or three patents for different activities. For example, a patent for certification and diagnostics of transformers. This allows a transformer, which should operate for 50-60 years with proper maintenance, to increase its resource by up to 20-30%. Separately, we made energy storage facilities – the so-called Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Last year we had three gold medals from the Plovdiv Fair. We are developing the only vibration balance and diagnostics of large rotating machines in the country. And many others. These are expensive endeavors and their effect is not always commensurate with the expected return, but we are obliged to do them. We hope that one day the state will also participate in these innovation processes by supporting industrially oriented scientific developments.
– Recently, the authorities in our country have often boasted that we are saving the Balkans. What is your view on what happened to the Bulgarian energy sector?
– This is not exactly true, even the statistics show it. Even the opposite. Last month, we imported more electricity than we produced, i.e. we produced less than we consumed. This is terrible, it has never been like this. Before 1989 and to some extent after that, we were an energy center. Now we are out of the rankings. Greece, for example, has a larger hydropower sector than we do, and we have much larger water resources. Everything has developed in Turkey, including nuclear energy. I won’t talk about photovoltaics. Romania is several orders of magnitude ahead of us. Only Macedonia lags somewhat further behind Bulgaria, but they are also developing at a rapid pace. The truth is that the Bulgarian energy sector is managed without vision and strategy. Everyone has their own tactics and… that’s it.
