In Decision No. 3 dated 23 April 2025, Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court ruled that Art. 2, para. 4 of the Agricultural Land Protection Act in the part “and for agrivoltaics – under conditions and in accordance with the procedure determined by an ordinance of the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works”, and Art. 17a, para. 3 of the Agricultural Land Protection Act in the part “of sites for the production of energy from renewable sources” violate the Bulgarian Constitution.
With this ruling, the Court supported the opinion of the Bulgarian President that construction on agricultural lands without changing their intended use may not be carried out in case of agrivoltaics.
The Court stated the following: “The implementation of simplified procedures to promote the production of renewable energy should not be at the expense of agricultural land, which is a limited and non-renewable resource. The legislator should not allow the interest in the construction of such sites to dominate to the extent of excluding care for the environment and the protection of agricultural land”.
Despite the immediate negative outcome of this decision for agrivoltaics in Bulgaria, the ruling provides important guidance for the future development of the sector, such as:
- There needs to be a specific procedure and a designated competent authority to assess the compliance of the proposed construction of agrivoltaics regulated in the Agricultural Land Protection Act and in line with the basic principles of the Agricultural Land Protection Act.
- The construction of agrivoltaics implies a certain impact on agricultural lands, which the legislator should strictly limit to what is directly necessary for the development and exploitation of these sites and cannot be a basis for changing the status of agricultural land. This land must have such status both before, during and after the possible construction of the sites.
- A clear and precise criterion, based on the legislation, must be established with sufficiently identifiable characteristics, which justifies the need for the envisaged exception and ensures its strict interpretation and application.
- During the construction and subsequent operation of agrivoltaics, agricultural activity should remain primary and mandatory, and electricity production should be carried out as a secondary and additional activity in a manner that does not affect the productive qualities of the land and its use according to its purpose defined in the Bulgarian Constitution.
Guarantees for the preservation of agricultural activity should be a primary obstacle preventing the possibility of a de facto change in the purpose of agricultural land and prevention of the reduction in the agricultural fund for agrivoltaics purposes.
Therefore, the Court’s decision provides some guiding principles for the future regulation of agrivoltaics in Bulgaria.
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