As earlier this month the European Commission approved Bulgarian state aid system of support for generation of energy from renewable sources from 2011, the measures will be implemented retroactively, from August last year through 2020.

Over two hundred companies are going to save BGN 94 million (EUR 48 million) per year or EUR 255.5 million in total on electricity bills through the measures of partial exemption, intended for cutting green power costs of large industrial consumers, Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC) and the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIB) said.

Following five years of application without the necessary notification on the grounds of article 108 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Balkan country notified the Commission about its scheme five months ago, CMS Cameron McKenna’s lawyers reminded in a piece published by Lexology. Additional information was requested three times, after which the decision comes as a major relief to over one thousand investors, the article adds.

After processing complaints, EU’s executive arm stated that its main objective is to assess the compatibility and, above all, proportionality of aid. It supported Bulgaria’s right of to select the categories of renewables projects that would be entitled to the aid, and found the surcharge applied only to the energy consumed in Bulgaria, and not applicable to exported energy, is not discriminative, the piece adds.