On 21 October 2026, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) held a public hearing on the Draft 10-Year Network Development Plan of Bulgaria for the period 2026–2035, submitted by the Electricity System Operator (ESO EAD). The document provides a forecast for electricity consumption and electrical load developments up to 2035. It details the core electricity transmission infrastructure planned for construction, expansion, refurbishment, and modernization over the next decade. The 10-year plan outlines two main electricity demand scenarios—maximum and minimum—factoring in energy efficiency policies and the deployment of new technologies.
The draft plan presents data on installed capacities as of the end of 2025: photovoltaic power plants – 5,984 MW; wind power plants – 716 MW; and energy storage systems (BESS) – 1,181 MW.
For the 2026–2035 period, based on stated investment intentions and executed connection agreements, ESO plans for the deployment of a total of 19,952 MW in new capacities, 11,422 MW of which are renewables. The standalone and co-located energy storage facilities (BESS) scheduled for connection amount to 7,610 MW over the entire period, with an estimated storage capacity of approximately 25,000 MWh.
Although this year’s plan again asserts alignment with the reference scenarios established in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), it is evident that ESO has once again adopted a far more conservative trajectory. This scenario not only diverges from the NECP forecast, but substantially downgrades projections—particularly regarding wind power capacities. According to ESO’s data, the cumulative newly installed wind capacity by 2036 is projected at just 747 MW out of the total 11,422 MW anticipated for the RES sector. This is several times lower than the targets set out in the NECP: 2.72 GW of onshore wind and 1.71 GW of offshore wind by 2035.
A notable inconsistency also appears in Table 4.7, where ESO projects that wind generation in 2035 will reach 8,000,000 MWh, while estimating fewer than 1,500 MW of operational wind capacity at that time. Under current technological parameters, generating 8 TWh of electricity would require more than 4 GW of operational wind capacity.
>> The draft plan, along with the EWRC report on it, can be found here
>> Please send your suggestions and comments for inclusion in APSTE’s written position paper to info@apste.eu by 30 October 2026.
