Bulgaria

Overall assessment

There are no mentions of energy communities in Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF), and it is highly unlikely that they will be featured in the REPowerEU chapter either. The RRF allocates up to EUR 10.4 billion for Bulgaria, an amount equivalent to 17 per cent of the country’s GDP. Of that amount, EUR 6 billion will be handed out in the form of non-repayable grants. The plan consists mostly of projects, the majority of which are needed and were planned long ago. Many of them will be co-financed by national private funds. The plan is structured in four pillars: Innovative Bulgaria (26 per cent of the total amount); Green Bulgaria (35.6 per cent); Connected Bulgaria (21.9 per cent); and Fair Bulgaria (16.5 per cent).

Under Reform 6 (C4.R6): "Boosting electricity generation from renewable sources" there is a clear reference to simplifying permitting procedures for renewable projects, with a special reference to further eases/simplification measures for renewables installations for own use up to 1 MW (e.g. rooftop PV installations for households and SMEs) by excluding them from the procedure of acquiring the technical approval by the distribution system operator and phasing out the obligation to declare excise duty for self-generation.

A milestone indicator for Reform 6 clearly states that amendments to secondary legislation will lead to "removal of barriers to development of renewable self-consumption and renewable energy communities, in light of the assessment conducted pursuant to Article 22 (3) and 21 (6) of the Renewable Energy Directive.".