Bulgaria’s 1st renewable energy auction concludes with the selection of over 3 GW generation capacity
In addition, it has also selected 1.176 GW of energy storage capacity
The winning projects will be supported with BGN 526 million in funds from the NPVU
The Ministry of Energy in Bulgaria has concluded the country’s maiden renewable energy auction, selecting over 3 GW of new generation capacity, along with 1.176 GW of energy storage to award a combined BGN 526 million ($284 million) from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPVU).
It offered BGN 535 million to support new wind/solar with co-located energy storage projects under 2 procurement calls in March 2024. One of the calls that entertained projects between 200 kW and 2 MW capacities received 327 proposals. The ministry shortlisted 267 of these, out of which 200 projects were finally selected.
These 200 projects represent 435 MW of total renewable energy capacity along with 176 MW of storage. They will receive close to BGN 107 million ($57.78 million).
Under call 2 for projects with over 200 kW installed capacity, 70 proposals came in with 65 shortlisted. The ministry finally picked 49 projects representing 2.66 GW of new renewable capacity and 1,000 MW of energy storage for this category. These projects will receive a total of BGN 419 million ($226 million).
Winning projects have time till March 31, 2026 to come online.
Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov said, “The production of electricity from renewable sources as well as the provision of sufficient electricity storage capacity is key from the point of view of meeting the challenges related to the Green Deal. Investments in technologies for decarbonized electricity production are the way to develop a modern energy industry.”