Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy has announced a call for project proposals under the procedure Energy efficiency in buildings, funded by the financial mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014-2021 through the program Renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy security.
The main objective of the program is to reduce carbon intensity and increase the security of supply by achieving the following results: increasing the production of energy from renewable sources; improving energy efficiency in buildings, industry and municipalities; raising expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy management.
The purpose of the current procedure is to renovate the buildings and turn them into ones with close to zero energy consumption.
According to the Energy Efficiency Act, a nearly zero-energy building is a building that meets two terms and conditions at the same time: first, the energy consumption of the building, determined as primary energy meets class A of the energy consumption scale for the respective type of buildings. Also, a minimum of 55 per cent of the consumed (supplied) energy for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water for domestic use and lighting is energy coming from renewable sources, located on-site on a building level or nearby.
In compliance with the EU’s energy efficiency priorities, Bulgaria places the energy efficiency at the first place and plans to achieve a reduction in primary energy consumption by 27.89 per cent and a reduction by 31.76 per cent in the end energy consumption compared to the PRIMES 2007 reference scenario. In particular, public service buildings, which are grouped with the name non-residential buildings, play an essential role in the accelerated and in-depth renovation, as they have a high degree of visibility in public life. This stimulates the understanding of the benefits of energy efficiency in all energy end-users and changes the public attitudes to support the overall process of renovation and maintenance of buildings.
The procedure is worth a total of 10.7 million euro. Beneficiaries will be able to receive 100 per cent of the value of each project, with a minimum aid amount of 200,000 euro and a maximum of 1.2 million euro.
By setting the high goal of reaching the norm for buildings with near to zero energy consumption, the Energy efficiency in buildings procedure will contribute to a sustainable and decarbonised building stock in Bulgaria, by combining the interoperability capabilities of different technologies to achieve high classes of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Eligible candidates are municipal administrations and state institutions.
