March 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed two agreements that will support the development of renewable energy generation and storage systems in line with the country's national Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), the energy ministry said on Friday.
The agreements provide a framework for assistance by the EBRD with the installation of new capacities for the generation and storage of electricity from renewable sources and the development of a national energy storage infrastructure, which will not be limited to battery storage, the ministry said in a press release.
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As part of the agreements, EBRD will conduct a thorough analysis of all existing energy storage technologies in Bulgaria to determine the most suitable types. Following this initial step, EBRD will organise tender auctions in Bulgaria for two turnkey delivery projects, namely the complete design, supply of equipment, construction and commissioning of the installations, the ministry added without providing further details.
Bulgaria has set ambitious targets under the 5.3 billion euro ($5.8 billion) RRP, earmarking around 37% of the funds for the energy sector in order to advance decarbonisation and the use of renewable energy sources.
In January, parliament gave powers to the caretaker government to renegotiate with the European Commission parts of the country's recovery plan, so as to seek a twelve-year delay to the projected 2038 phase-out of coal-fired power plants.
In the same month, the Commission decided to refer Bulgaria to the European court for lack of action on transposing the EU's renewable energy legislation into national law.
($ = 0.9188 euro)