On October 20, 2023, a draft Bill on Energy from Renewable Sources in Maritime Spaces was submitted to the National Assembly.
The Bill regulates public relations related to the production of electricity from wind power plants. The Bill frames the legal-administrative order for planning, construction, operation and removal of power plants in the maritime spaces of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The adoption of this Bill is presupposed by the need for local production and consumption of low-carbon energy and the fulfillment of the commitments made by the Republic of Bulgaria at national and international level for climate protection (implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30.06.2021; Reform 10 of the approved National recovery and sustainability plan: Decarbonisation of the energy sector in the period after 2026, in connection with the Paris Agreement and the European Green Pact; implementation of the Integrated Plan in the field of energy and climate of the Republic of Bulgaria 2021-2030, etc.).
As a result of the current geopolitical situation, the Council of the EU has proposed a change to the EU Renewable Energy Directive, some of the proposals include the implementation of joint energy planning in maritime spaces and the sharing of cross-border offshore wind projects between EU Member States sharing a sea basin. According to forecasts of numerous conducted studies, the assessment of the technical potential of the Bulgarian sea area varies between 62 GW and reaches up to 176 GW.
One of the most important provisions of the Bill is the creation of a special administrative body – interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, called the Interdepartmental Expert Council for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy (IECDOWE), which body will coordinate the process of planning, construction and operation of wind power plants in the sea space.
Another important provision in the Bill is the possible approaches for developing offshore projects. The two possible regimes for granting rights to economic entities for the construction and operation of wind power plants are determined by the priority and non-priority areas of the Black Sea. For the priority areas in the Bulgarian section of the Black Sea, which are distinguished by more favourable parameters, it is planned to put them up for auction, after a detailed study by the Bulgarian state, and the selected project developers utilize the resource potential on the basis of a concession agreement at low costs for electricity production.
The other possible approach concerns non-priority areas. The procedure is an open one, led by the investor, and offshore power plant developers do all the research themselves and, after proving the expediency of the projects, they can obtain exclusive rights to develop and operate wind farms. Their exclusive rights are again secured by a concession agreement.
Some of the goals of adopting the new Bill include:
- the attraction of long-term investments in the energy and industrial sector;
- the attraction of a qualified workforce in a new economic sector – workforce will be needed at every stage – the planning, construction, installation, operation and dismantling of the facilities, as well as during their maintenance;
- reducing carbon emissions in implementation of the common European plan to reach reaching European climate neutrality by 2050;
- conducting transparent procedures to increase the installed capacity of offshore wind turbines by at least 1 GW by 2035 and at least 3 GW by 2040.
