Amendments to the Renewable Energy Act (REA) to facilitate the production of renewable energy by citizens will be proposed for tabling by interested members of the 48th National Assembly. This was announced by Public Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PCESD) and Green Laws. The two organizations have already sent the changes to the initiator of the process for working on the rights of citizens producing their own energy – the MP Alexander Dunchev.
The legislation in the short term should focus on the possibility for citizens and communities of citizens to go through eased administrative procedures to start “home” energy production, Green Laws believes. Citizens should be able to install capacity on their properties, connect it to the national grid, exchange power within the community and sell surplus energy produced to utility companies. This is what the environmentalists’ proposed legislative changes aim to do.
Work on the bill began in May this year by Green Laws, together with MP Alexander Dunchev and Greenpeace. With the help of Green Lawyers’ lawyer Svilen Ovcharov, the Legal Fund of OCESD and experts hired by Greenpeace, the legal texts have been completed over the last three months. They will be presented during the 16th National Conference of the Association of Bulgarian Energy Agencies on 30 November 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the capital.
Green Laws’ mid-term goals include other related changes to energy and climate legislation, which you can read here.
The advocacy campaign for energy independence of OCESD-Varna and Green Laws is conducted under the project “Being Energy Independent” funded by the Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund under the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.