Bulgaria and Slovakia have not yet notified the EU executive of any measures taken to transpose the directive despite a formal notice and a reasoned opinion issued to both states in 2021, the Commission said in a statement.
The renewable energy directive, adopted by the EU in 2018, sets a bloc-wide legally binding target of at least 32% of renewable energy in total consumption by 2030. The directive also aims to increase by the end of the decade the share of renewables in the heating and cooling and transport sectors, where green energy uptake has been slower. The EU had set a deadline of June 30, 2021 for member states to transpose the original directive.
The Commission revised the directive in July 2021, lifting the initial target to 40% as part of policy initiatives under the European Green Deal. In May last year, the EU proposed another revision, in line with its REPowerEU plan developed to cut reliance on fossil fuels in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine war and spur on the green transition, further raising the target of renewable energy in the consumption mix to 45% by 2030.
According to recent Eurostat data, Bulgaria registered the biggest annual drop in the share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources, to 16.8% in 2021 from 23.3% in 2020.
Bulgaria, which is a net power exporter, increased its electricity production by an annual 5.7% on the year to 50,422 GWh in 2022, the Electricity System Operator said earlier this month. The amount of renewable power - solar, wind and hydro, in the transmission network climbed by 22.66% to 1,578 GWh, while the volume of renewable energy in the distribution grid grew by 13.25% to 2,185 GWh.
Earlier this month, Bulgaria's parliament tasked the interim government to renegotiate the country's commitments under its Recovery and Resilience Plan to reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation to 40% of 2019 values by the end of 2025.
