State-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) has expressed concerns about the Black Sea submarine cable project, warning that Bulgaria may withdraw unless the planned underwater electricity line includes a direct connection to the country’s transmission network.
The initiative, promoted by the Green Energy Corridor Power consortium—comprising transmission operators from Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Hungary—plans a subsea cable between Georgia and Romania. Separately, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Bulgaria signed an agreement in April to develop a parallel energy corridor through Turkish territory, creating two competing routes for Caspian electricity exports to Europe.
While Bulgaria has expressed interest in the Black Sea cable, BEH CEO Valentin Nikolov emphasized that the country’s participation depends on securing a landing point on Bulgarian soil. Current plans propose either splitting the line to reach both Romania and Bulgaria or routing it exclusively to Romania before continuing to Hungary. If the latter option is chosen, BEH suggests Bulgaria would gain more by focusing on the Turkish corridor.
A feasibility study is underway to evaluate the economic and technical viability of different routes. BEH notes that channeling the cable through Bulgaria would strengthen the domestic electricity network and allow access to EU funding for cross-border connections, including the interconnection with Romania.
The Black Sea electricity interconnection is estimated to cost approximately 3.5 billion euros and could take up to four years to complete. The European Commission is considering a contribution of 2.3 billion euros to support the investment. The infrastructure is designed to transport up to 4 GW of electricity from the Caspian region to Europe via three separate cables. However, global production of the high-specification cables required, capable of operating at depths of 2,000 meters, is limited, and specialized vessels for laying them are scarce.
