Rositsa Karamfilova: Our goal is not to shut down capacities, but to comply with the legislation and to guarantee the protection of the environment and human health.

On initiative by the Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov a meeting took place today at the Ministry of Energy with the management of the “Maritsa 3” and “Brikel” TPPs and a team from the Ministry of Environment and Water, lead by Minister Rositsa Karamfilova. The topic was the plan demanded by the two ministries to address the registered excess values of pollutants beyond the norms ensuring air quality, for the occurrence of which both enterprises had contributed. “The problem has a solution, and it is technical, not political and not to be handled through pre-election protests. There is a clear set of measures that ensure that the specified norms are observed, if not - we will be forced to close down production capacities,” said Minister Hristov. “We don't want to shut down production, but we will not make a compromise with daily inspections and we will make sure that the law is observed and implemented,” said Minister Karamfilova categorically.

During the meeting, the management of the two enterprises presented specific short-term, medium-term, and long-term measures for each TPP, which are to guarantee the operation of the facilities within permissible environmental standards. These include: using low-sulphur coal, improving the efficiency of the combustion process, expanding desulfurization plants, and switching to reduced capacity operations and preventive shutdowns when approaching air quality standards for sulfur dioxide are recorded. The implementation of some of these steps has already started in both companies, and the Ministries of Environment and Water and Energy will carry out continuous monitoring and control over their implementation. Daily inspections will be conducted by the Ministry of Environment and Water. The companies clarified that in the next months, a large-scale repair of the boilers of the “Brikel” TPP will start, which will also help to reduce unorganized emissions.

A concept was presented for the companies’ long-term investment program, which includes the introduction of a thermolytic plant of 400MW capacity. The implementation of a pilot project for this plant, which will be monitored by the Ministry of Energy and its experts, was discussed. Its successful implementation will be important for reducing carbon emissions and achieving real decarbonization by the companies.