Image: Sapviktor, Pixabay
The European Commission said it will examine an arbitration award ordering Bulgaria to pay €61.04 million plus interest to ACF Renewable Energy Ltd., which invested in a Bulgarian solar power plant in 2011 under a renewable energy support program.
Bulgaria changed the arrangement in 2013 and 2014, prompting ACF to initiate arbitration. The arbitral tribunal ruled that Bulgaria had violated the Energy Charter Treaty and awarded damages in January 2024. Bulgaria informed the European Commission of this but did not pay the amount.
The European Commission said its preliminary position at this stage is that implementation of the ruling would constitute state aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, potentially making it incompatible with the internal market. The investigation will also examine whether the ruling conflicts with the provisions of the EU Treaty on the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The study offers Bulgaria and interested parties the opportunity to submit comments. It does not indicate the final decision of the European Commission.
EU law generally prohibits arbitration between investors and states within the EU under bilateral investment treaties or the Energy Charter Treaty, following the 2018 Achmea judgment and the 2021 Komstroy judgment. In June 2025, the EU formally withdrew from the Energy Charter Treaty.
The European Commission said legal protection for investors remains in place through national courts and EU law, and that member states must ensure that support measures for renewable energy are stable and do not undermine the economic viability of projects.
In December 2025, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy allocated more than 4 GWh of energy storage capacity to 31 projects under its RESTORE 2 procurement plan, pledging BGN 228.9 million ($137.2 million) to develop a standalone renewable energy storage infrastructure at the national level.
And in October 2025, International Power Supply switched on the first Bulgarian battery energy storage system (BESS) production facility near Sofia, with an initial annual capacity of 3 GWh, with plans to expand to 5 GWh by the second quarter of 2026.
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