Bulgaria's 2027 budget to allow guarantee of up to 228 million euros for Chaira
The government wants the draft budget to allow a state guarantee for a loan to power company NEK, funding the Yadenitsa dam to expand the pumped-storage plant.
Symbolic image · Photo: Dr.G.Schmitz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria's government decided on Wednesday that the draft 2027 state budget should allow a state guarantee of up to 228,086,452 euros for state-owned National Electricity Company NEK, energy news site 3e-news reported. The guarantee would back a loan for the expansion of the Chaira pumped-storage hydropower plant. It has not yet been issued and must comply with EU state aid rules.
The project will increase the volume of the plant’s lower reservoir by building the Yadenitsa dam and a reversible pressure tunnel connecting it to the Chaira reservoir. According to the government decision, the project is at an advanced stage of preparation and has been designated an EU Project of Common Interest, No. 2.21, confirmed by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/764. Pumped-storage plants store energy by pumping water uphill and generate electricity when needed.
Before the guarantee is issued, the energy minister must show that NEK is “not an undertaking in difficulty” and can service the loan. The government will not approve new investment projects financed with state loans in 2027. At the same meeting, the cabinet allocated nearly 5.6 million euros for science programs, including nuclear technology and critical raw materials, and about 13.1 million euros for the State Fund Agriculture.