Plugin solar in Bulgaria

Can I use a plug-in solar kit in Bulgaria? Not as a simple plug-in device: Bulgaria has no specific rule for plug-in or balcony solar, and no national watt limit. Small solar systems for your own use follow the general self-consumption route. You notify your grid operator, who sets zero-export wiring requirements, and you usually need design documents from a licensed designer. Houses up to 20 kW are exempt from a building permit. Apartments are not, and need the building owners' consent. Surplus power fed to the grid is not paid. Campaigners are calling for simpler rules, so check back for updates. This page explains the rules, the paperwork, dealing with your grid operator and current incentives.

Bulgaria has no law or regulation specific to plug-in solar. Three laws apply instead.

• Renewable Energy Act (ZEVI), Art. 25a: self-consumption systems can be built on the roofs and facades of buildings already connected to the grid in urban areas, with total capacity up to twice the contracted capacity and no more than 5 MW.
• Spatial Development Act (ZUT), Art. 151(1)(19): no building permit for solar up to 20 kW for self-consumption, but only on single-family homes and holiday houses and their plots. A flat in an apartment block is not covered.
• Condominium Act: balconies and facades are common parts of the building.

Grid connection is governed by Ordinance No. 6 of 28 March 2024. It does not reflect the 0.8 kW threshold in EU Regulation 2016/631, so micro systems have no simplified procedure. A 2025 Ministry of Energy consultation discussed exempting systems up to 0.8 kW, but no such rule has been adopted. Parliament passed further ZEVI amendments on 6 November 2026; they take effect once published in the State Gazette. This page is guidance, not legal advice.

There is no product register or registration specific to plug-in kits. Under Art. 25a ZEVI, the customer files a notice with the grid operator using the operator's own form: ERM Zapad (west), Elektrorazpredelenie Yug (south) or Elektrorazpredelenie Sever (form 168) (north-east). The form asks for capacity, single- or three-phase inverter and your customer number, and you declare the power is for self-consumption only.

For houses up to 20 kW, you notify the municipal chief architect up to 14 days before installation, with structural and electrical design solutions by licensed designers. Within 14 days after installation, owner and installer send a joint declaration to the chief architect and the grid operator. Choose inverters certified to EN 50549-1, with anti-islanding protection and an export-limiting function.

Talk to your grid operator before you plug anything in. After your Art. 25a notice, the operator provides, within 14 days, an annex to your grid access contract with the technical wiring requirements so that no power flows into the grid. No connection opinion is issued on this route.

The choice is hard to reverse: if you later want to export surplus, you must start the full producer connection procedure from scratch (Art. 25a(5) ZEVI).

Check your meter. Bulgaria has no net metering, and press reports say an unadjusted meter may record power sent back to the grid as consumption, so you could be billed for it. Ask your operator how your meter handles reverse flow. Size the system to your daytime base load, and use export limiting.

None currently. There is no subsidy, tax deduction or reduced VAT for plug-in kits; Bulgaria applies its standard 20% VAT rate to solar equipment. The household solar programme under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (BG-RRP-4.026) covered rooftop systems, and its targets were cut in May 2026. Preferential buy-back prices for new rooftop systems up to 30 kW end once the November 2026 ZEVI amendment is published.