The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting its support for energy efficiency projects in Bulgaria with a new EUR 10 M loan to the Bulgarian Energetics and Energy Savings Fund (FEEI), the bank said in a statement.

FEEI is the country's first private fund supporting energy-saving measures in publicly-owned buildings.

The bank's loan will be used to develop energy performance-based projects, attracting both financing and expertise from the private sector by engaging Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

Energy Performance Contracts will be implemented primarily by Enemona, a Bulgarian engineering and construction company specializing in energy efficiency improvements across a wide range of public buildings, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals and administrative offices.

Through this loan, FEEI will provide the resources and skills needed to finance energy-saving initiatives for its clients, mainly Bulgarian municipalities and state-owned companies, at a time when local funding remains scarce.

"The Fund will support sustainable energy projects based on energy performance contracts. This scheme can generate energy efficiency investments that municipalities operating under tight budgets would never be able to fund themselves. As a result, they can achieve improvements at no initial cost, while the investments are recovered from the obtained energy and cost savings," said Daniel Berg, EBRD's Director for Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria, the government estimates that public building owners could save up to 50% of their annual energy bills by undertaking energy efficiency improvements.

The Fund is helping to realise this savings potential with a strong pipeline of projects to be implemented over the coming years. The projects will range from installing energy efficient public lighting and introducing combined heat and power generation plants to boiler updates and thermal insulation of walls and windows replacement in the municipal sector.