The European Commission announced on Monday that it is providing Bulgaria with 65 million euros from the EU Modernization Fund for the GREENABLER project. This project aims to reconstruct power lines and adapt them for electricity generated from clean sources. The Bulgarian government applied for this 857 million euro project in February, and the allocated funds are intended for actions planned in 2024.

A spokesperson for the European Commission emphasized that the funds should be used for installing capacities to deliver clean energy to consumers, not for its production. The Modernization Fund is available to 13 European countries to support their transition to climate neutrality.

GREENABLER plans to reconstruct 720 km of existing power lines, transforming them from a voltage level of 220 kV to 400 kV, along with the synchronized reconstruction of adjacent substations. In its second stage, the project will modernize the "Hemus - Stara Planina" power line, upgrade 888 km of 110 kV power lines, and double 92 km of 110 kV lines to increase network transmission capacity.

Investments for the first stage will be phased over seven years, with 568 million euros from the European Modernization Fund. The second stage, included in the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability, is valued at 203 million euros.

A government message from Nikolai Denkov mentioned that the second stage is part of the RePowerEU plan, aimed at reducing EU dependence on Russian energy. Bulgaria has not yet submitted the relevant projects for this line to the European Commission for approval. Last week, the Commission urged Bulgaria to expedite the submission of these projects and the absorption of European cohesion funds and the recovery plan.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan includes projects for commissioning 4.5 GW of new renewable energy sources. The implementation of GREENABLER will provide the technical capacity to connect these new sources to the national grid, as stated in a government press release from February.

This is the second tranche of funds from the European Modernization Fund to Bulgaria. In 2023, the European Commission granted Bulgaria 196.57 million euros for four other projects related to installing smart electricity meters and strengthening the electricity transmission network.