While these capacities currently cover only 1.5% of the country’s daily electricity consumption, ESO Director Angelin Tsachev projects that within months or a year, installed battery capacity could reach 7,000 to 10,000 megawatts, potentially supplying 10–15% of daily demand.
These storage systems are set to become a significant factor in the electricity market, allowing the energy generated by Bulgaria’s 5,500 megawatts of solar power plants to be stored and used during peak hours, preventing grid overloads. ESO has received applications for grid connection of batteries totaling 12,000 megawatts with a storage capacity of 34,000 megawatt-hours, and preliminary connection contracts have already been signed for 7,500 megawatts with a capacity of 23,000 megawatt-hours. Notably, conventional power plants have yet to implement battery storage systems, though TPP “Contour Global” and TPP “Bobov Dol” have submitted applications.
The batteries, using lithium-ion technology similar to that in mobile phones, can store electricity for 24 to 48 hours. Interest in solar park development remains strong: in the first half of 2025, 500 new megawatts were connected, bringing the total photovoltaic capacity to 5,500 megawatts, with another 1,000 megawatts pending approval. Tsachev notes that after changes in balancing methodology, commercial participants with intermittent capacities have adjusted, ensuring system stability, which places Bulgaria among the top five European countries in this metric.
Bulgaria’s solar growth is also reflected in its electricity trade: during the first seven months of 2025, 1,500 million megawatt-hours were exported, surpassing the country’s imports. This combination of expanding storage, disciplined balancing, and growing solar capacity positions Bulgaria as an increasingly influential player in the European energy market.
(Novinite, August 17, 2025)