Welcome to SHAREs & SHAREs+ in Bulgaria

Citizen participation in energy projects in Bulgaria has traditionally been limited, and political support for energy communities has often been unclear. Over the past three years, however, significant progress has been achieved. This progress has been driven by the active involvement of municipal authorities and local utilities in collective actions, as well as growing awareness among Bulgarian citizens about the benefits of community energy models. Despite this momentum, structural challenges remain. Bulgaria still requires additional practical experience, technical assistance, economic incentives, and targeted legislative refinement to adapt and scale successful models. In Bulgaria, SHAREs+ addresses these needs through targeted activities implemented by the Black Sea Energy Research Centre (BSERC), which also coordinates the project.

Within the project, Bulgaria is recognized as an emerging pioneer in developing a national energy community framework. At the same time, it serves as a pilot country for citizen-led thermal renewable energy projects and engagement models for vulnerable consumers. 

SHAREs+ will support the creation of one new thermal renewable energy community, testing an innovative community energy model, and provide tailored assistance to at least 10 existing citizen-led initiatives in Bulgaria. The pilots will receive technical, legal, and financial guidance, mentoring, and access to practical decision-making tools through the SHAREs National Gateway.

The Bulgarian SHAREs Gateway, the national information hub for citizen-led collective energy actions, will be further enhanced to increase its user base and engagement. Improvements include expanded outreach efforts, improved user experience, and integration of additional needs-based features. New thematic areas will focus on sustainable business models for RES-based thermal energy communities and a dedicated section addressing vulnerable consumers and available support mechanisms.

SHAREs+ continues to promote inclusive and practice-oriented policymaking in Bulgaria through the National Citizen Energy Forums (NCEFs). Building on networks activated during the previous project, BSERC will organize three NCEF meetings during the new project period. The forum will bring together local authorities, policymakers, businesses, civil society, and community representatives to discuss regulatory and market barriers, exchange implementation experience, and formulate practical recommendations for improving the national framework for energy communities.

Training and capacity building are central to Bulgaria’s participation in SHAREs+. A key mechanism is the Community Energy Peer Circle, bringing together experienced stakeholders from successful citizen-led projects in Austria and Bulgaria. Through direct interaction, observation, and peer-to-peer exchange, new initiatives from the replication countries (Cyprus, North Macedonia, Romania, and Ukraine) and Bulgaria will gain practical insights into governance, financing, and operational aspects.

When SHAREs began in 2021, energy communities had no defined place in Bulgaria’s energy landscape. The concept was absent from national legislation, unfamiliar to public authorities, and largely unknown outside a small circle of experts. There was no advisory structure, no coordinated stakeholder dialogue, and no central source of reliable information. Collective citizen energy initiatives were not part of the mainstream policy debate, nor were they visible as a practical pathway for the country’s energy transition.

In this environment, SHAREs did not simply support existing and emerging initiatives, it helped build the enabling environment for their development. By aligning its activities with evolving legislation and responding to the momentum created by the energy crisis, the project positioned energy communities within national policy discussions and public discourse, and for the first time in Bulgaria, offered a comprehensive information platform. The SHAREs project in Bulgaria spotted local heroes and facilitated the replication of successful models by disseminating detailed step-by-step guides and providing essential tools. It also supported the establishment of new energy communities through mentoring. 

SHAREs addressed a critical gap: the absence of accessible, reliable, and structured national information for energy communities. The Bulgarian Gateway was created to consolidate fragmented expertise and make structured guidance accessible to a wider audience. The Gateway translates European and national legislation into clear and practical language, presents step-by-step collective business models, provides downloadable templates, gives access to a wide range of national and European tools and guidelines, and adopts the SHAREs communication campaign to support member identification and engagement. For municipalities, citizen groups and professionals, it became the first comprehensive reference point dedicated to energy communities in Bulgaria. 

One of the SHAREs’ most important contributions was the establishment of national policy-developers working groups dedicated to energy communities. For the first time, representatives of ministries, public agencies, municipalities, legal experts and civil society organisations engaged in coordinated discussions on how citizen energy could function in Bulgaria. Organised before and right after the 2023 amendments to the Bulgarian Energy from Renewable Sources Act, which formally recognised energy communities in national legislation, the working groups provided a platform to exchange perspectives, clarify legal interpretation, and support a shared understanding of implementation challenges.

Since the regulatory framework was initially incomplete, SHAREs adopted a pragmatic approach to implementation. Early pilot activities focused on feasible collective initiatives within the existing legal environment, including energy efficiency improvements in multifamily residential buildings co-financed and implemented by residents with support from local utilities. These projects demonstrated that collective citizen action was both possible and replicable, even before a formal legal definition existed.

Later in the project, through mentoring and targeted support, SHAREs identified and worked with several “local heroes”. The energy community initiative that ultimately progressed to operational level was led by a municipal authority, marking an important development in the Bulgarian context and confirming the central role of local authorities in driving community energy projects for renewable energy.

Discover the Bulgarian pilots that received support though SHAREs: https://shares-project.eu/shares/pilots.

SHAREs complemented policy and technical work with an active communication effort. Through media engagement, dedicated podcasts participation, and training activities, the project introduced the concept of citizen energy, highlighting its benefits and possibilities, raised awareness and fostered engagement in energy community initiatives across the country.

A key milestone was the national conference “Energy communities: drivers of the energy transition in Bulgaria”, which brought together policymakers, European experts, municipal authorities and emerging local initiatives. The event consolidated stakeholder alignment and strengthened the vision of a democratic and community-driven energy transition in Bulgaria: https://shares-project.eu/news-events/newsroom/national-conference-energy-communities-drivers-of-the-energy-transition-in-bulgaria. 

Despite the advancements achieved throughout the SHAREs project, Bulgaria still requires substantial support in several areas. There is a continued need for experience, technical assistance, economic incentives, and legislative amendments to further adapt successful models to include citizens-led solutions for deploying RES in the heating and cooling sector as well as strategies to support vulnerable consumers in uniting for collective action to reduce energy service costs and enhance energy efficiency.

• https://solaracademy.bg/ep-16-grazhdanska-energiya-i-energiini-obshtnosti/ 

Podcast of Solar Academy on citizen energy and energy communities (in Bulgarian)

• https://www.capital.bg/podcast/kapital-green/2023/11/14/4552522_podkast_s_todor_popov_grajdani_mogat_da_investirat_v/#comments 

Podcast of Capital Green on the piloting energy community of Gabrovo Municipality (in Bulgarian)

Black Sea Energy Research Centre - BSERC, for all SHAREs project partners see here: https://shares-project.eu/shares/project-partners.

Mariya Trifonova, PhD, SHAREs main contact person for Bulgaria

7, Viktor Grigorovich Str., Fl. 2, “Kriva reka” RA, 1606 Sofia, Bulgaria

mariya@bserc.eu