The draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Renewable Energy Act has been prepared with the main objective of introducing the provisions of Directive (EU) 2023/2413 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001, Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and Directive 98/70/EC with regard to the promotion of energy from renewable sources and repealing Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 (the “Directive”).
The transposition of the Directive into Bulgarian legislation is delayed — the deadline expired on 21 May 2025. On 24 July 2025, the European Commission sent an official notice to the Republic of Bulgaria, initiating an infringement procedure.
The draft law follows the objectives set out in the Directive by adapting the existing legal framework on the promotion of renewable energy sources in order to create the conditions necessary to achieve the EU’s climate neutrality goal by 2050, as well as the interim target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
The draft introduces the indicative national targets for the respective periods as defined in the Directive, as well as certain requirements for reporting progress on the share of energy from renewable sources.
It also introduces the rule that, if there is a need to amend these targets, the appropriate instrument shall be the update of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Bulgaria. New content requirements for the latter are laid down based on the Directive.
The draft further implements the Directive’s requirements concerning the definition of state policy for promoting the production and consumption of energy from biomass.
Additionally, the bill introduces provisions of the Directive that have not yet been transposed, concerning guarantees of origin for renewable energy. These are reflected in Article 7 of REA (in the form of new powers and obligations of the Executive Director of the Sustainable Energy Development Agency – AUER – related to the development of a methodology for calculating Bulgaria’s residual energy mix and the annual publication of related data), as well as through amendments and supplements to Article 34 of REA.
These are only part of the changes expected to be adopted to ensure the transposition of the Directive.
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