The Virila Photovoltaic Power Station, Bulgaria's largest photovoltaic power station project to date, was officially put into operation not long ago. The power station has an installed capacity of 123 MW and an annual power generation of approximately 170 GWh. Rumen Petrov, a member of the board of directors of the Bulgarian Solar Energy Association, said that currently more than 2,000 MW of photovoltaic power stations have been put into operation in Bulgaria, and nearly 600 MW will be added in 2022 alone. “The development of solar energy is in line with Bulgaria’s proposal to National plan to reduce carbon emissions from the energy sector by 40% by 2025.”

Bulgaria has obvious advantages in developing solar energy. In some areas of the country, the average annual sunshine time reaches 1,500-1,700 hours. The Bulgarian government regards the development of solar energy as an important means to alleviate the energy crisis and promote green development. Recently, it was announced that the St. George solar power generation project in the Silistra region of the northeast will start construction before the end of this year. According to reports, after the project is completed and put into operation in 2025, the average annual power generation is expected to reach 313 GWh. The 100 MW photovoltaic power generation project located in Meglizhi, Stara Zagora region, is also in progress. The Bulgarian Electricity Production, Storage and Trade Association predicts that if green transformation policies are vigorously promoted, 4,650 MW of solar power generation capacity will be added by 2030.

In order to speed up the construction of solar power generation projects, Bulgaria has introduced a number of measures. Revise laws and regulations such as the Renewable Energy Law and the Energy Law to shorten the approval process and time for solar power generation projects. For example, the approval time for projects for personal and corporate user use has been shortened from 6 to 8 months to 4 weeks.

Bulgaria also uses financial mechanisms to encourage people to install rooftop photovoltaic equipment. In May this year, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy announced that it would provide 240 million leva (1 yuan, approximately 0.25 leva) in funds to support residents in installing household photovoltaic power generation and energy storage equipment. Among them, households that install photovoltaic power generation equipment with a peak value of less than 10 kilowatts can receive up to 70% of the subsidy, with the maximum subsidy amount being 15,000 leva. Rumen Petrov believes that the government's subsidy program will benefit 10,000 families.

Bulgaria is also actively applying for financing support from the European Union and related institutions. In April this year, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed a financing agreement to support the construction of new photovoltaic power generation projects and energy storage infrastructure in Bulgaria. Nikolai Stoyanov, former Minister of Economy and Industry of Bulgaria, said that the European Commission is implementing the "Reenergizing Europe" plan, in which Bulgaria will receive a grant of approximately 480 million euros, "which will provide Bulgaria with the opportunity to develop and utilize solar energy." Providing opportunities is very important for the construction of new energy production capacity."

Bulgaria attaches great importance to cooperation with Chinese companies in the field of solar power generation. The Virila photovoltaic power station that was put into operation not long ago uses more than 220,000 photovoltaic panels provided by China JinkoSolar. The 15 MW photovoltaic power generation project in Bulgaria, undertaken by Henan Pinggao Group, is about to start construction. Anhui Huasheng New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. signed a 1.5 GW photovoltaic product supply framework agreement with Bulgaria and is promoting the construction of large-scale heterojunction photovoltaic ground power stations. Daniela Bobeva, former deputy prime minister of Bulgaria, said that Chinese investment is playing an increasingly important role in the construction of photovoltaic industrial parks and that "there is great potential for cooperation between China and Bulgaria and even Central and Eastern European countries in the field of green economy." Editor/Xu Shengpeng