Bulgaria takes 1st steps on pathway to offshore wind developement

Bulgaria’s Parliamentary Committee on Energy yesterday approved on first reading a draft legislation on energy from renewable sources in territorial waters, thus taking the first step in enabling the future development of offshore wind projects in the Black Sea.

The committee adopted on first reading two identical draft bills, one from Delian Dobrev, part of the parliamentary group of GERB-UDF, and another from Ivaylo Mirchev of Democratic Bulgaria (DB), the reason being that both parliamentary groups took part in the consultation on this matter over the past months. The bills were written by a team of energy experts from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD).

Dobrev, who is the chairperson of the committee, explained that up until now, offshore wind investments in Bulgaria have not been viewed as feasible and there was no investor interest in such projects. However, this is no longer the case given recent electricity price jumps.

In September 2021, the CSD presented a technical and economic assessment of the Bulgarian Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea according to which the country has 116 GW of unutilised technical offshore wind potential, including 26 GW suitable for deployment in shallow waters using mature bottom-fixed foundations.

Ahead of an update expected next year, Bulgaria’s current National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) envisages reaching a 27.09% share of renewables in final energy consumption. The country is the last in Europe with a sea outlet to consider adopting an offshore wind bill, DB’s Mirchev pointed out.

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