Bulgaria’s Country Profile is based on information provided by Renovate Europe’s Bulgarian National Partner: the Bulgarian Association for Construction, Insulation and Waterproofing (BACIW). This Country Profile focuses on the buildings elements of the Bulgarian National Recovery and Resilience Plan draft from July 2021.

The Plan allocates significant resources for energy efficiency improvements especially for multifamily residential buildings and sets clear delivery milestones, which are however not aligned to the national targets defined in the LTRS. It can benefit from strengthening delivery through private capital mobilisation and setting a strong basis for supply chain and project support.

Buildings in the context of the plan - Reaching the quality of the energy efficiency certificate

Bulgaria’s draft NRRP comprised measures worth €10bn of which €6.5bn from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. It allocates a relatively high share of funding to energy efficiency – nearly €1.4bn of which €947m from the Recovery Facility (14.6%), €318 m national financing, and €129 m private financing. The largest share of energy efficiency measures targets multifamily residential buildings (€627m), followed by state and municipal buildings (€185m), and industrial and commercial buildings (€118m).

Around €1.6m are in place for four reforms: one stop shop; quality of the energy efficiency certificates; digital system for management of the process; and assessment of the sustainability of projects. Around €3m are set aside for administrative capacity investment, and €7.5m for programme management and information campaigns. €4m are foreseen for a pilot project for rolling out building information modelling (BIM) and €1.5m for the creation of a unified information system for spatial planning, investment design and construction permitting.

National challenges

A study for the EC1 based on 2012-2016 data estimates that only 1.3% of energy renovations in the residential sector were medium depth and 0.1% deep renovations. For non-residential buildings 5.3% were medium, and 0.6% deep renovations. One of the main challenges to accelerate multifamily buildings renovation and increase reach and ambition is the transition from a mechanism of 100% grant financing which currently dominates the National Programme for Energy Efficiency to a gradual increase of homeowners’ participation.

Addressing energy poverty is another key issue, with a third of the population unable to adequately warm their home. Other challenges include financial resources, the need for regulatory reform along with information and training campaigns.

Read the full report here or in the attachment.