SolarPower Europe Introduces Best Practice Guidelines for Agrisolar Projects in Bulgaria

SolarPower Europe’s Agrisolar Best Practice Guidelines are now available to solar developers and farmers in Bulgaria, translated by the Bulgarian Association for Production, Storage, and Trading of Electricity (APSTE). The guidelines focus on best practices for integrating solar installations with agricultural activities.

The document provides a customized scoring mechanism for assessing Agrisolar project performance based on agricultural, environmental, social, economic, and lifecycle quality criteria. It delves into practical instances of EU Agrisolar projects, presenting data on crop yield, water usage, land efficiency, biodiversity improvement, and socioeconomic advantages. This translated guide arrives at a crucial juncture for Bulgaria’s solar industry, aligning with new renewable energy regulations allowing for the development of Agrisolar projects in the country.

Lina Dubina, Policy Advisor for Sustainability said, “This translation will allow best practices for the development of Agrisolar to be circulated more widely, among farmers on the ground in Bulgaria. This is a key step in the development of the technology across Europe.”

Mariyana Yaneva, Vice Chair of the Association for production, storage and trading of electricity, Bulgaria (APSTE), added, “Pairing solar with agriculture makes so much sense in terms of economic and ecologic benefits for local farming communities and this is clearly shown in SolarPower Europe’s Agrisolar guidelines and best practice real-life examples. To me, it was really puzzling to see how misinformed regulatory framework was effectively preventing such climate resilient solutions for the agriculture sector in Bulgaria. By translating the work of SolarPower Europe into Bulgarian, APSTE hopes to set the standards for the development of Agri-PV projects, now that the regulation is finally in place.”