Bulgaria installs over 9 GWh of batteries, with over half a billion euros, money from the PNRR

Bulgaria will finance 82 independent renewable energy storage projects worth over 1.15 billion leva (588 million euros) under the EU-funded program called RESTORE, the Energy Ministry in Sofia announced last week.

The selected projects will provide a total usable storage capacity of 9,712.89 MWh, more than three times the minimum target of 3 GWh initially set through the tender.

The deadline for submitting project proposals was December 5, 2024. In December, the Energy Ministry announced that it had received 151 proposals, with a total value of almost 5 billion leva, significantly exceeding the available budget of 1.154 billion leva.

118 projects worth 1.6 billion leva have been pre-selected. Another 30 reserve projects, worth 415 million leva, have been identified, but there is currently no funding available for them.

Conditions of the public call:

-Projects with a minimum capacity of 10 MW and at least two hours of storage capacity.

– The projects will be used mainly in frequency regulation markets.

– There was no minimum amount of funding per project.

– Maximum funding per project: BGN 148,643,080.

Grants will cover up to 50% of eligible costs, with a ceiling of BGN 371,607.70/MWh (excluding VAT) for usable storage capacity.

All investments must be implemented, connected to the Bulgarian electricity transmission or distribution network and put into operation by March 2026.

The RESTORE program is financed by Bulgaria’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), with the objective of significantly increasing the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix, while simultaneously developing the necessary infrastructure for its storage.