Environment

The EBRD is loaning Spain's EDP Renovaveis, a leader in the renewable energy sector, with 20 million euro to construct and run six solar photovoltaic parks generating a total of 50MW in the southern Romanian region of Oltenia.

A parallel facility costing 10 million euro will be provided by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, according to a statement released on Thursday.

Search efforts for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been shifted from the previous area where the plane was believed to have gone down.

The new search area is approximately 1,680 km west of Australia's coast city Perth, which is 1,100 km north-east of the previous zone in the southern Indian Ocean where operations were conducted, the BBC revealed.

A 3.1-magnitude earthquake was reported in western Bulgaria on Friday morning.

The quake struck at 6.41 am, its epicenter was 60km south of Sofia and 16km south of Samokov and its depth was 2km, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, as cited by Sega daily.

EU to take measures against dependency on Russian gas

The European Commission will present an energy plan in June.

A construction worker stands in front of a section of Russia's South Stream pipeline near the village of Sajkas, 80 kilometres north of Serbian capital Belgrade on November 24th 2013. [AFP]

All 316 employees of the thermal power station in Bulgaria's city of Varna are going out on strike.

They are demanding an end to the uncertainty surrounding the plant in Bulgaria's Black Sea city, which faces a potential shutdown and is currently now producing electricity, Bulgarian TV channel bTV has reported.

Around 500 000 Bulgarians find it difficult to pay their electricity bills, an expert at a Bulgarian energy trade union said.

The cleanest air in Bulgaria is at Rozhen peak in the Rhodope mountains, while  the cities Plovdiv and Varna have the most polluted air.

The main cause of air pollution in Bulgaria are the fine dust particles, said the head of the Air Monitoring Department in the State Environment Agency, Valeri Serafimov.

Bulgaria's Parliament adopted incentives for small and rooftop power plants with a capacity of up to 30 KW.

Bulgarian MPs lifted the regulatory regime requiring the registration of people conducting installation and maintenance activities for power plants with a capacity of up to 200 KW, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

Four suspects have been arrested in Drama, northern Greece, in connection with multiple fires in parkland and rubbish skips.

Authorities said the four are connected to 68 arson attacks between June 2012 and October 2013.

The suspects have also been charged with setting up and participating in a criminal organization.

Britain urgently needs shale gas to reduce energy dependence from Russia, its PM David Cameron said Wednesday.

The Guardian quotes him as saying that the country has a duty to step up gas production.

Cameron described Ukraine's crisis as a "wake up call" for the possible repercussions that reliance on Russian gas could have on Europe.