Bulgaria’s rapidly expanding battery-storage market is increasing pressure on the government to reform environmental product fees that industry representatives say have become disproportionately costly for stationary storage projects.
The Bulgarian Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics (BASEL) says industrial batteries are currently subject to a product fee of around €2.81/kg. By comparison, the rate in Romania is approximately €0.20/kg, making Bulgaria’s charge roughly 14 times higher.
The issue has become increasingly important as investment in battery storage accelerates. Bulgaria had almost no battery-storage capacity at the beginning of 2024, but the country had reached approximately 8.6 GWh by May 2026. As the market has expanded into the multi-GWh range, a fee that previously represented a relatively small regulatory cost can now translate into a significant expense for utility-scale projects.
BASEL is calling for a dedicated product-fee rate of €0.30/kg for lithium-ion batteries used in stationary energy storage. The association also wants the fee to be calculated only on the weight of battery cells and modules, rather than on the total weight of a storage installation.
Under the current approach, the weight of a project can include containers, inverters, transformers, cables, cooling systems and fire-protection equipment. BASEL argues that applying the charge to the entire installation creates an excessive burden that does not accurately reflect the environmental costs associated with the batteries themselves.
The association is also seeking lower fees for solar modules and inverters, arguing that environmental charges should be more closely aligned with the actual costs of collection, treatment and recycling at the end of a product’s useful life.
At the same time, BASEL is calling for stronger enforcement against companies that place electrical and electronic equipment on the Bulgarian market without properly declaring the products or paying the required environmental charges. The association argues that better enforcement would create a more level playing field for companies that comply with existing regulations.
The Bulgarian Environment and Water Ministry published a revised version of amendments to the product-fee ordinance on 17 August, but the latest package did not include changes to battery-storage fees. According to the industry association, battery charges are expected to be addressed separately, although no timetable has been announced.
For battery developers, the issue is increasingly becoming a matter of project economics rather than administrative compliance. As Bulgaria’s storage fleet continues to expand, weight-based environmental fees can have a meaningful impact on the capital cost of large-scale installations.
The proposed reform would bring Bulgaria’s treatment of stationary batteries closer to the economics of the rapidly developing regional storage market and could help reduce an additional cost burden for projects competing for investment with storage developments elsewhere in Southeast Europe.
