How smart micro-installations can help Bulgarian households save on electricity bills

Habitat Bulgaria analyzes results of pilot project for solar photovoltaics on balconies

published on 2/27/25 2:32 PM

Photo: Habitat Bulgaria

Bulgaria has favorable climatic conditions for producing electricity from the sun, even in the transitional seasons of spring and autumn. One of the cities with the best conditions for using photovoltaic systems is Dupnitsa. The southwestern Bulgarian city was chosen by the non-profit organization Habitat Bulgaria to conduct a pilot project, which for now only shows at first glance the benefits of applying micro solar systems for household needs. And although the micro-installations have only been operating since October last year, the results are already seen - the systems installed in six socially disadvantaged households have managed to produce 30% of the energy they consume.

The success of the solar micro-installation, literally applied on the balconies of multi-family buildings, raises the question – what prevents a more widespread introduction among households, especially from the category of the energy poor families?

It turns out that the obstacles are mainly administrative and almost none when it comes to the installation and operation of the so-called "plug-in" solar systems. The solar panels have a maximum power of up to 800W of the micro-inverter. In our case, however, in the demonstration project they are up to 440 W, so at this stage we cannot give the entire solution," explains Asya Dobrudalieva, project manager at Habitat Bulgaria:

"The results in October show that these installations produced 63kW within just one favorable month. For comparison, the household electricity consumption in the same month was 203 kW. This practically shows that almost 30% of the required energy was produced with the photovoltaic installation. If we had a standard photovoltaic installation, we would have an even higher percentage of energy produced by the micro-installation itself. We selected households where there is a permanent resident during the day – energy consumption during the day is key, then the solar panel produces energy, and the household directly consumes it.

This also makes people there change their consumption model, for example, to cook on an electric stove during the day, with the energy that you have produced yourself, and not at the cheaper night tariff, with energy supplied by the grid. This is the principle – to produce energy in order to consume it, and not to return it back to the grid. The benefits of such installations directly affect both the environment and the climate – this is clean energy and we do not use a polluting source when obtaining it."

In 2024 alone, about 1 million such installations were installed in Germany, one of the countries where this market is developing very rapidly. Bulgaria remains at the other pole, and energy poverty in this country is one of the highest in the EU.

The assessment of the Agency for Sustainable Energy Development is that almost 28% of people in Bulgaria live in energy poverty – a condition that is determined both by household income and social vulnerability, and by the quality of the home, whether it has thermal insulation.

"We do not have an energy culture. Every household knows how much electricity they pay, but when asked, "how many KW hours of energy have you paid for?", few people will be able to say", explains expert Asya Dobrudalieva.

"These micro-installations give exactly this answer and make a change in our behavior as consumers. You start to monitor how much energy you produce, how much energy you consume, and consider what you can turn on and off during the day. We aim to make this reporting of the energy consumed and returned to the grid from our own source possible at least for households that are in energy poverty, because this can be a support for them. If they have a subsidy that allows them to install such installations and use the energy they produce, and then to be given a net accounting for the energy they have produced and returned to the grid – this will be of significant help".

It is not in vain that the pilot project includes energy-poor homes in Dupnitsa – we use a more relaxed regime for the installation of these panels, since the buildings are 100% municipal property and the consent of the other homeowners is not required", explains Desislava Ivanova, chief expert Europrojects in the municipal administration of Dupnitsa, Habitat Bulgaria's partner in this project. The social criterion was the most important in selecting the households:

"The role of the Dupnitsa Municipality in this case was to identify households and assist in the implementation of administrative procedures. Our conclusion is that relevant legislative changes should be made to ease the regime under which each household could install such a panel. As an expert who participated in the entire process, I believe that this would be one of the good solutions to the problem of energy poverty, as it could be directed as direct assistance to energy-poor households. Now they receive a certain amount during the heating season, with which they pay for solid fuel. Installing solar micro-installations is a long-term investment that quickly yields good results, is harmless and only helps households to manage their consumption."