Plovdiv, BG

The city of Plovdiv is located in the southern part of Bulgaria and is the second largest city in the country with a population of 340,000 inhabitants. The city is a fast growing economic centre in Bulgaria, as well as an important cultural and historical site.

To show the municipality’s commitment to the development of innovative solutions for sustainable European cities, Plovdiv has joined the Covenant of Mayors and implemented ambitious measures regarding energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. As part of this plan, many municipal buildings including kindergartens and schools were renovated in 2013. In some of these buildings, solar panels were also installed on the roof to provide hot water. In order to extend the development of energy efficient solutions to residential buildings, the municipality of Plovdiv is planning to stimulate private investments in energy efficient refurbishment, and is thus encouraging private owners to apply for funding under the national programme for energy efficiency.

Additionally, the city of Plovdiv is taking part in the iURBAN European Project aiming to design an innovative software for monitoring the municipalities’ energy and heat consumption. This project will give the municipality a comprehensive overview of the city’s energy consumption and open up the possibility for citizens to become prosumers.

In the framework of the Replication Cluster, the city of Plovdiv intends to share experiences on energy efficient refurbishment with EU-GUGLE and SINFONIA pilot cities in order to find solutions to support investments in the renovation of different types of buildings.