Bulgaria’s Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov. Image: Ministry of Energy.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy has approved €588 million in funding for 82 standalone battery energy storage projects, totaling nearly 9.7GWh of usable capacity. The final decision, announced on April 17, 2025, concludes a competitive selection process that began with 151 proposals in August 2024. The selected projects—funded under the EU-supported RESTORE program—will receive up to 50% of construction and commissioning costs, aiming to reinforce grid stability as Bulgaria scales up renewable energy deployment.

RESTORE (National Infrastructure for Storage of Electricity from Renewable Sources) is part of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, targeting post-pandemic economic revitalization and energy transition. All approved storage systems will connect to either Bulgaria’s transmission network operated by ESO EAD or local distribution grids. Another 30 projects were placed on reserve for potential future funding worth BGN 415 million. The RESTORE initiative is distinct from an earlier program concluded in November 2024 that awarded support for 3.1GW of renewable generation and 1.1GW of co-located storage.

This major public investment follows growing private-sector activity. As reported in our previous article, SUNOTEC and Sungrow signed a landmark agreement in July 2025 to deploy 2.4GWh of storage across hybrid solar projects, including some tied to RESTORE funding. Bulgaria’s largest commissioned system to date is a 25MW/55MWh installation by Renalfa (June 2024), followed by an 18.7MWh project from China-based Sermatec. In February 2025, state utility NEK announced plans to deploy nearly 300MWh of storage across five hydropower sites.

Following the January 2025 appointment of new Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov, the RESTORE rollout signals a coordinated push to modernize Bulgaria’s grid and accelerate its renewable energy ambitions.