Workshop under the project "Implementation of the Euro Electricity Market in Bulgaria – II phase", financed by the Programme BG04 "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM) 2009-2014 was held on 19 and 20 March 2015 in Sofia.

The workshop was organized by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), and it had over 60 attendees.

On the first day, the main speaker in the program, Mr. René Beune from the consulting company E-Bridge, presented the experience of Western and Central Europe with various models of organized market places, success factors of power exchanges, market monitoring and liquidity measures, principles for modeling the balancing market and prerequisites for market integration. Representatives of the Romanian power exchange OPCOM and the Romanian regulator ANRE familiarized the participants with the process of integration of day ahead markets of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania (4M Market Coupling - 4M MC).

Presentations about the current challenges faced by the Bulgarian electricity market were given by representatives of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX EAD), ESO EAD and EWRC. The policy in the sector was discussed by a representative of the Ministry of Energy.

At the end of the workshop the members of all institutions held a panel discussion where the participants from the industry, trade sector, scientific community etc., also made their own statements and asked questions.