On June 1, 2025, we celebrate 20,000 kilowatts of electricity generated by our small Iliev FPP. The idea was conceived at the Community Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (CCESD) in 2007 and quickly found funding through the ‘Solar Roof on My Home Too’ project from the EcoCommunity Foundation. Our goal then was to explore the possibilities and the procedure by which an owner of a single-family house in Bulgaria could invest in purchasing, installing a photovoltaic system and connecting it to the power grid. Then grandfather Ilija agreed and provided the roof of his house on ul. “Elijah gave his house and roof to Ilijah. Kaspichan for the experiment. The name of the plant is in his honour.
We have told you more than once what kind of vicissitudes the OCESD team went through and how much salt we ate. Grandpa Elijah is long gone from our midst (peace be upon him), but the eight Kyocera PV panels and the Sunny Boy inverter are still working today. And despite their paltry output of 1.2 kilowatts, they produce watt after watt of electricity from the sun. 18 years later, the system has operated for a total of 65,529 hours, produced 20,000 kilowatts of electricity and saved the household £5,000. In effect, it has paid back its nominal cost. The manufacturer had provided for a 25-year lifetime. There are seven more to go. Grandfather Elijah’s heirs will continue to enjoy the result, if not of his foresight, at least of his confidence and acceptance of the new – a quality that is often in short supply in our latitudes. Today, after the energy crisis with the beginning of war in Ukraine, there are almost no small and medium-sized businesses left that have not equipped their workshops and warehouses with photovoltaic systems. Municipalities have also started to invest in their own electricity production, but households, for the most part, still do not recognise their interest. However, we are not giving up. For 18 years of OCSD’s modest 30-year history, we have worked and will continue to work toward our dream of 100,000 single-family homes with solar roofs.
