Bulgaria is quickly emerging as an unexpected leader in Europe’s push to expand battery storage as countries seek ways to manage rising energy costs and growing electricity demand.
The Black Sea nation has doubled its battery storage capacity over the past year, supported by about €700 million ($783.86 million) in European Union funding.
The expansion has enabled Bulgaria to store electricity generated from solar power during the day and release it when demand increases in the evening.
The additional capacity also helped the country increase electricity exports during heatwaves in July and August, when neighbouring countries faced growing pressure on their power networks.
“Battery storage is critical now. It’s not a nice to have, it’s a must have,” Nikola Gazdov, chairman of the Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity, known as APSTE, said.
Across the European Union, governments are investing in battery systems to manage fluctuations associated with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
However, the rollout has been slowed by lengthy approval procedures and delays in securing connections to national power grids.
Investment is expected to accelerate in major markets including Germany, Britain and Italy, particularly as high energy prices and concerns over supply disruptions continue to put pressure on consumers.
The ability to store electricity for periods of peak demand is becoming increasingly important for managing power costs and reducing the impact of energy supply disruptions linked to the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
Although Bulgaria has relatively limited domestic oil and gas resources and produces less electricity than some of its European counterparts, its rapid expansion of battery storage has strengthened its position in the regional electricity market.
APSTE data showed that Bulgaria’s electricity exports rose 62% from a year earlier to 3.5 terawatt-hours.
The increase followed regulatory changes and EU financial support that encouraged private investors to enter the battery storage market.
Bulgaria now has approximately 6 gigawatts of storage capacity, compared with about 3 gigawatts a year earlier.
Some of the additional electricity was supplied to Romania, which temporarily shut down a nuclear reactor in August after drought conditions reduced water levels in the Danube River, which is used to cool the plant’s turbines.
The increased availability of stored electricity also helped Romania conserve water in its reservoirs by reducing its reliance on hydropower during periods of high demand.
Dimitar Zarchev, head of Central Dispatch Management at Bulgaria’s Electricity System Operator, said the country had exported as much as 50,000 megawatt-hours of electricity in a single day.
Zarchev said the figure was equivalent to an average power flow of about 2,000 megawatts, comparable to the output of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant in northwestern Bulgaria.
However, battery storage is expected to play a smaller role during winter, when shorter daylight hours reduce the amount of solar electricity available for storage.
Zarchev said Bulgaria would likely depend more heavily on conventional power plants during the colder months rather than stored renewable energy.
Further expansion could also be constrained by the country’s electricity grid, which requires additional investment to accommodate more storage capacity.
At the same time, the rapid growth of battery installations has reduced some of the financial advantages that initially attracted investors, as narrower differences between electricity prices have limited potential profits.
The Energy Ministry said batteries could eventually compete with one another for the same revenue streams.
It said operators would therefore need to participate in balancing markets and other electricity system services rather than relying mainly on buying power when prices are low and selling it when prices rise.
Greece, with its abundant sunshine, had previously appeared well positioned to become a regional leader in battery storage.
Its solar power capacity more than tripled between 2020 and 2025, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
However, battery deployment has not kept pace, leaving Greece reliant on imported natural gas to meet demand during peak evening periods.
Despite conducting three auctions for standalone battery projects since 2023, Greece only brought its first significant batch of systems online in April.
Government estimates indicate that the country’s total battery storage capacity could reach one gigawatt by the end of the year, considerably below Bulgaria’s current level.
Eurostat data showed that average Greek household electricity prices, excluding taxes and levies, stood at €0.1967 per kilowatt-hour during the first half of the year, compared with €0.1117 in Bulgaria.
Greece’s Energy Ministry said last month that it was working to accelerate the development of energy storage with support from EU funding as part of efforts to reduce electricity costs.
Officials expect an additional 5 gigawatts of battery capacity to be operational by 2030, on top of the one gigawatt expected by the end of this year.
But industry leaders argue that the expansion needs to happen much sooner.
“If we had had those six gigawatts operating now, our power system would have been more balanced and this would have passed on to consumers,” Manolis Karapidakis, chief executive of Greece’s association of power storage developers, said.
Goodness Anunobi
Follow us on:
