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Six regions across Northern and Eastern Europe are joining forces through VIVA to help promising innovations move towards implementation and scale, while opening new pathways for knowledge, expertise and opportunities to travel across regional borders. The four-year Horizon Europe initiative has officially launched, bringing its consortium together in Halden, Norway, on 15–16 September 2026 to …

Six regions, one shared ambition: VIVA launches to strengthen European innovation Read More »

Despite increasingly ambitious climate commitments, projected coal production worldwide remains far above the levels consistent with international climate goals. This mismatch, known as the coal gap, is derived from the broader production gap framework and highlights the challenge of aligning coal production with pathways that limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to keep it within 1.5°C. The 2025 Production …

The Coal Gap and its implications for Bulgaria  Read More »

Natural gas has long been presented as the fuel that could bridge Europe’s transition from coal to a low-carbon electricity system. Compared with coal, it produces fewer carbon dioxide emissions, gas-fired power plants provide the flexibility needed to balance increasingly variable renewable generation, and Europe entered the energy transition with an extensive gas transmission and …

Is natural gas really a “bridge fuel” for Bulgaria, or does it primarily expose the country to price volatility originating from European gas markets?  Read More »

The transformation of the European Union’s power sector over the last decade has been driven by two interconnected processes: the expansion of renewable energy sources (RES) and the reduction of carbon-intensive electricity generation. While these developments are often discussed together, an important question remains: to what extent can the decline in carbon intensity be attributed to …

Does Renewable Energy Drive Decarbonization? Bulgaria’s Performance in the EU Context (2015–2024)  Read More »

The 6th South East European Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems – SEE SDEWES 2026 – officially opened in Burgas, Bulgaria this year. The international forum is held in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and the Burgas Branch of Sofia University. …

Net-Zero Lab’s Team Participates in the 6th SEE SDEWES Conference in Burgas Read More »

In the context of accelerating climate change and increasingly stringent environmental policies, carbon intensity has become a key indicator for assessing the environmental performance of energy systems. It is commonly defined as the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted per unit of electricity generated, typically expressed in grams of CO₂ per kilowatt–hour (gCO₂/kWh). This metric …

Is Bulgaria’s Electricity Too Carbon-Intensive? A European Comparison  Read More »

The Merit Order Explained  Competitive electricity markets operate according to a fundamental principle known as the merit order, which determines the sequence in which power plants are dispatched to meet electricity demand. In this framework, generators such as coal, nuclear, wind, and solar plants submit offers to sell electricity, specifying both the quantity they can supply and the price at which …

How does the merit order determine electricity prices in Bulgaria and where does it break down?  Read More »

Bulgaria’s electricity system is under mounting pressure. Renewables now account for 54.5% of installed generation capacity, solar PV alone reached 6,505 MW in 2026, and the system is already producing sustained periods of negative wholesale prices — clear evidence that the flexibility challenge is no longer a future concern but a present operational reality. On a typical spring day, …

Electricity System Flexibility in Bulgaria: Unlocking the Digital Opportunity  Read More »

The European integration of electricity markets rests on the principle that power should flow from low-price to high-price zones, up to the limit of available transmission capacity. While European electricity market integration has progressed significantly under the EU Target Model, persistent price divergence and intermittent inefficiencies in cross-border flows suggest that full market coupling has not …

When Prices Diverge: Welfare Losses from Constrained Cross-Border Transmission  in Southeast Europe  Read More »

The integration of European electricity markets is found on the principle that, in the absence of transmission constraints, wholesale electricity prices across bidding zones should converge. Under the EU Target Model and the market coupling framework promoted by the European Commission, cross-border capacity is allocated implicitly through price coupling, allowing electricity to flow from lower-price to higher-price areas until …

Are Bulgaria’s wholesale electricity prices isolated?  Read More »