Renewablesources and biomass in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Energy Act (enforced in December 2003, last amendment in September 2006) defines renewable energy sources as follows:
"Renewable energy sources" shall be solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal energy, which are renewed without apparent depletion from use of the said sources, as well as waste heat, energy from vegetable or animal biomass, including biogas, and energy from industrial and household waste. According to the same Energy Act:
"Biomass" shall be products consisting of any whole or part of a vegetable matter from agriculture or forestry, which may be used as fuel, or the following wastes used as fuel:
(a) vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry;
(b) vegetable waste from the food processing industry, if the heat generated is recovered;
(c) fibrous vegetable waste from virgin pulp production and from production of paper from pulp, if it is co-incinerated at the place of production and the heat generated is recovered;
(d) cork waste;
(e) wood waste with the exception of wood waste which may contain halogenated organic compounds or heavy metals;
(f) sludge from treatment plants;
(g) animal substances.

The main institution responsible for the development of the policies related to energy sector is the Ministry of Economy and Energy (MEE) which was created in 2005 after the merger of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources (MEER). With the establishment of the new Ministry a separate Directorate has been designated to deal with the issues of energy efficiency and environmental protection. Other ministries relevant to biomass development are Ministry of Environment and Waters (e.g. it decides whether an Environmental Impact Assessment of a project is necessary), the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), and the Ministry of Regional development (e.g. it issues land-use permits).

Another relevant institution is the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, whose main responsibilities related to biomass are: (i) issuing and controlling of various licensing related to electricity, heat and natural gas; (ii) regulation of the prices of electricity and heat; (iii) developing the rules for connection to the electricity grid; (iv) issuing of certificates of origin and green certificates for the electricity produced from RES and co-generation.

Also, an important institution is the Energy Efficiency Agency - a state body with main responsibilities in the field of energy efficiency, but also performing some functions related to renewable energy. Perhaps the major one in the filed of RES is collection of information on the country’s renewable energy generation.