Connecting to the Electrical Grid – Stage 2: Formal Statement and Preliminary Grid Connection Agreement

Renewable energy, Corporate Clients

After submitting the connection request (for more information, please see our article on the topic of requests), the district network operator (DNO) is required in Bulgaria to issue the applicant with a formal statement. This confirms the planning conditions under which the applicant’s project can be connected to the grid. This statement must be issued by the DNO within 14 days.  

To issue the statement is permitted to take more than 14 days where the district network operator identifies deficits in the request or e.g., in the rare cases where permission from regulatory bodies such as Bulgaria’s State Commission for Regulation of Energy and Water (SCREW). 

Additionally, in situations involving “complex” connection requests, the DNO and applicant may mutually agree to extend the timeline for the opinion issue.

Project Draft and Preliminary Grid Connection Agreement (PGCA)

After obtaining the statement, the applicant submits a “project draft” to the DNO. This draft contains two parts: 

• A development proposal; and
• A description of the electrical equipment and installations. 

The DNO must approve or reject the draft within 10 business days. If coordination with another DNO is necessary, the DNO’s review may be extended up to 30 days. Counting starts on the date of filing of the project draft.

A Preliminary Grid Connection Agreement (PGCA) is required only in certain cases and must be entered into within 25 days of the opinion issue date.

For part three on the process of Connecting to the Electrical Grid in Bulgaria, you can read our next article: Connecting to the Electrical Grid – Stage 3: Connection Agreement