Bulgaria currently has 5.4GW of operating battery storage. This is equal to 22.8% of all installed power capacity in the country. In California, 16GW of operating in-state utility-scale batteries represent 14.9% of installed capacity. Based on the global benchmark we compiled from comparable operating data, this puts Bulgaria first in the world on this measure.
Ivaylo Stanchev
California still has almost three times more battery capacity in absolute terms, but its electricity system is more than four times larger: 107.3GW of installed capacity compared with 23.8GW in Bulgaria. Bulgaria’s battery capacity relative to the size of its power system is therefore substantially higher. When we talk about absolute numbers, China is far, far away with 150GW of operating battery storage, but compared to the power system of the country, this is just 3.7%.
For consistency, the comparison uses the 16GW of in-state utility-scale batteries reported by the US Energy Information Administration. California’s broader figure of 21.1GW also includes around 2GW located in neighbouring states and approximately 3 GWbehind the meter. But even with these megawatts, the ratio still remains below 20%.
And there is something not less important—Bulgaria moved from a very small battery market to a level at which storage is already changing the daily operation of the electricity system in just two years.
