The Bulgarian Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will request €1.15bn ($1.26bn) of investment from the European Commission (EC) to support its energy value chain, including hydrogen.

The government teams are updating the versions of its Territorial Plans for the transition of its Stara Zagora, Pernik and Kyustendil regions, and will submit its plans to the EC in September (2023).

The plans will focus on the technological development of the entire value-added chain, advancing the production of hydrogen and its applications, such as industrial, transport and energy needs.

The Territorial Plans’ main measures relate to creating a hydrogen value chain, support for clean technology industrial parks and photovoltaic parks, use of green hydrogen and production, distribution of biomethane and energy from wind turbines and land reclamation.

With the support provided for industrial parks for clean technologies, a new park will be created in Maritsa East, on the basis of a consulted plan for the development of the complex, with others potentially developed in the Stara Zagora vicinity.

Supporting photovoltaic parks with an electrolyser can create employment in the construction and maintenance of the parks, complementing land reclamation activities.

The update governance model is expected to issue a bottom-up approach, with the interests of local communities considered.

In 2021, Bulgaria was gearing up to introduce waste-to-hydrogen facilities in order to create a diverse and rich hydrogen economy in the City of Simitli, after an agreement with Hydrogen Utopia International.

The plant was expected to help phased out fossil fuels across Eastern Europe with Simitli signing a Letter of Intent with Hydrogen Utopia to build and manage a Powerhouse Energy Distributed Modular Gasification plant.