Experts

Angel is an economist with 18-year experience in the energy field. He has been involved in more than 30 EU-funded (Horizon 2020, IEE, FP7, FP6, etc.) and more than 15 national (Bulgarian) energy policy projects and has gained considerable expertise in the areas of energy policy modelling; energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies, plans, and programmes; energy efficiency service market development; and promotion of sustainable energy solutions in the residential sector.

Angel has been contracted as energy policy expert by the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy, the Sustainable Energy Development Agency, and the National Committee of Bulgaria to the World Energy Council.

Ivo is a lawyer, currently heading the legal department of Bulgargaz EAD. He has got sound experience in the field of corporate law, commercial law, commercial transactions, real estate law, contract law, labor law, administrative and criminal law and property transactions, consultations in the field of energy, public procurement and judicial representation in civil, commercial, tax, labor cases.

Vera joined the Black Sea Regional Energy Centre team in 1996 as an administrative assistant and, since 2015, she has been an official member of the BSERC team. During these years she has gained considerable experience in project preparation, administration and coordination. In addition, she is responsible for communication and stakeholder engagement activities, including design and implementation of communication strategies, organisation and implementation of awareness campaigns and events, development of information materials, website and database maintenance, handling reporting and translation tasks.

Prof. Kaloyanov has over 35 years of experience in the analysis and synthesis of thermal systems and energy efficiency improvement. This includes industrial systems, buildings, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems, district heating systems, and renewable energy sources utilisation. He has been Team Leader or Team Member in more than 250 national and 35 international (EC, USAID, GEF, World Bank, EBRD) projects related to energy auditing, building energy modelling and simulation, energy performance evaluation, optimisation studies, demand analysis. He was team leader of working groups for EU harmonisation policy and implementation of energy performance of buildings and energy end-use efficiency and energy services directives, regulations, standards, methods and tools in building sector and heat supply, research & development, education, training, demonstration projects, monitoring and reporting.

Angel Minev is an electrical engineer with sound experience in combining gas/electricity/heat and EE/RE as part of the work he carried out in harmonizing Bulgarian energy legislation with European Directives in accordance with market liberalization principles. He has also been involved in energy efficiency and RES programmes and demand-side management, sector policy preparation and implementation, including investment analysis, financing models, business plans and feasibility studies for several energy projects.

Boris is an electrical engineer, lighting specialist, designer, expert in outdoor lighting systems. He has got 20 years of professional experience in the field of energy efficient modernization of lighting systems. He has participated in a number of projects funded by Bulgarian and EU sources and programmes in lighting of public and industrial buildings, street lighting reconstruction of Bulgarian municipalities, modernization of industrial and street lighting in Europe.

Momchil is a Doctor in Industrial Thermal Engineering, with vast experience in building and industrial energy efficiency improvement. The numerous projects he has participated in involved building energy modelling and simulation, energy auditing, generation of energy efficiency measures, risk analysis, evaluation of energy efficiency projects. Momchil Vassilev is lecturer in the National Training Sheme for independent building energy auditors and member of the Bulgarian Association for Energy Analyses in Buildings and Industry.

Maria is the financial manager of BSERC and expert with more than 30-year experience in business and economics in the energy sector. Most of her professional career has been associated with the big Bulgarian energy sector entities – National Electric Company, Electricity System Operator, Electricity distribution company of Pleven. She has organised and managed companies’ financial and economic processes, carried out financial and economic analyses, developed business cases and marketing strategies.

Dimiter Bachvarov has numerous contributions to research and projects of non-governmental organisations such as the Center for the Study of Democracy, the Center for Economic Development, the Center for Risk Analysis and Management, and others in the field of economy and public finance. After 1989 he was senior advisor and director of the Economic Policy Directorate of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria and in the period 1997-2001 – adviser to the Prime Minister on the structural reforms, energetics and economic balances of the country. As a senior civil servant he directly participated in and led the preparation of analyses, research, drafting of programming documents and draft laws for state governance purposes in the fields of economy, energetics, privatisation and concessions. Mr. Bachvarov has worked with BSERC on the development of regulatory strategies for balanced growth of the utilisation of the potential for electricity generation from RES in Bulgaria and has been advising the Centre on its ongoing activities.

Lyubimka is a young professional with an interest in the energy sector, focusing on renewable energy, active citizen engagement, and women empowerment in green transformation. Lyubimka is actively involved in the implementation of three EU funded projects in Bulgaria. She is a part of the research team of BSERC for the implementation of the SHAREs and POWER-E-COM projects. Through her work on these projects, she has deepened her knowledge of energy communities and renewable energy, gaining valuable insights directly from public bodies and industry experts. Additionally, she is part of the Net-Zero Lab team, an ECF grant-supported initiative at Sofia University, where she plays an active role in the establishment of a Female Entrepreneurship Lab at the university. Lyubimka also supports the establishment of the first female-led energy community in the country, aiming to achieve significant social impact through this initiative.

Petar has more than 45 years of extensive experience in industrial energy sector, energy efficiency research, environmental design and consultancy projects in different countries in Europe and the Middle East. He has been Project Manager and consultant for projects funded by USAID, UNDP/GEF, EE21, and EU DGIII, IEE, private investors etc. In many projects and programs, Mr. Kamburov is combining the local capacity building with screening and preparation of various types of energy projects (including energy efficiency and renewable energy sources). He has long experience in supporting local municipalities, companies, developers, consultants and specialists in project identification, development, financing, tendering and procurement, implementation and monitoring. This includes projects in industry, commercial and residential buildings, district heating systems.

Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and a Master’s degree in Economics and Management in Energy, Infrastructure and Utilities Sectors from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She is in the process of obtaining her PhD and her research interests are related to the study of the specifics of communication in the energy sector. Her professional experience started with the publication of professional journals and for the last seven years she has been the executive director of professional associations in the energy sector. She has also worked as a communications consultant in various international projects related to the energy sector and funded by EU programmes.

Prof. Lazarov is an electrical engineer, head of the Laboratory for Renewable Energy Sources at the Technical University Sofia. The main areas of his professional activities cover the electrical aspects of renewable energy sources – RES, conversion of primary energy resources into electricity – wind energy systems, photovoltaic systems, hybrid RES systems. Prof. Lazarov’s recent project activities have been focused on modelling and testing of the energy conversion chain – primary resources – wind or photovoltaic converters (with the electronic ones) – grid or consumer; predicting the energy production from RES using different methods; compensation of power fluctuations of wind and photovoltaic systems, using gas micro turbines, small pump hydro plants; super capacitors etc.; RES integration in buildings etc.

Ilia Nikolaev is a thermal and nuclear engineer, president of the Bulgarian District Heating Association and of the Industrial Association of Varna, Member of the Consulting Union of the Bulgarian Industrial Association. He has more than 40-year professional experience in the operation and management of the District Heating Companies of Ruse and Varna. He possesses exhaustive knowledge of energy production and heat distribution, energy efficiency, environmental protection, planning, organization, legislation. His main activities have been relating to the elaboration of methodologies for monitoring and evaluation of performance for various investment projects in the DH production and distribution areas; analysis and evaluation of the economic and environmental impact of a wide range of investment projects in the DH sector.

Dr. Peneva is an economist, associate professor at the Economic Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She holds a PhD in energy poverty and is an expert in the EU Energy Poverty Observatory. She has been involved in a number of projects on the subject. Teodora’s main expertise covers evaluation of methods of measuring energy poverty; systematization of basic indicators for energy poverty, clarification of key methodological issues for its quantification; analysis of socio-demographic and economic factors impacting energy poverty; assessment of different types of policies to reduce energy poverty; assessment of the elasticity of energy poverty from changes in energy consumption, type of heating, household income level and others; assessment of households attitude towards energy efficiency.

Todor currently serves as the Energy Coordinator for the Environmental Association “Za Zemiata”. As the National Energy Coordinator for Bulgaria, he represents the CEE Bankwatch Network, focusing on Еnergy Тransformation initiatives. Todor has been instrumental in coordinating several projects, including the LIFE project and the EUKI project, both centered around energy transformation in Bulgaria. In addition to his project roles, he is a member of various governmental committees and working groups, such as the Commission for Energy Transition. He is a member of the Working Group at the Ministry of Regional Development to accelerate the work and finalize the Territorial Plans and a member of the Monitoring Committee of the Operational Program “Development of Regions” 2021-2027.

Mariya defended her PhD thesis studying the role of the institutional set-up for the development of the renewable energy sectors in selected EU countries. In the course of her career, for over 10 years, she has gained insight into the technological and socio-economic developments in the energy sector. As part of the European Institute of Energy Research team in Karlsruhe (EIFER, Germany), she has analysed innovative business models for RES integration, including schemes stimulating self-consumption and citizen energy projects. She has been leading the BSERC team for the implementation of the EU SHAREs and POWER-E-COM projects, dedicated to energy communities. In parallel, Mariya conducts research on public attitudes and social acceptability of European climate policies and low-carbon technologies. She represents Sofia University in the Horizontal Stakeholder Engagement Group organized by EC’s DG Regio within Just Transition Platform..