Last week, coal-fired thermal power plant Brikel, located in Galabovo in southern Bulgaria, was ordered to immediately cease operation by the Stara Zagora Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water.
The statement from the Inspectorate said that the suspension of operation was implemented by forced decommissioning and sealing of equipment in the installation, valid until the implementation of technical measures to comply with the norms for permissible emissions and the conditions in its integrated permit are confirmed.
According to the Inspectorate, the ultimate goal of all the actions up to now and the upcoming ones is for the Brikel TPP to operate again in the future, but only after carrying out all the necessary investments and technical activities that will allow the operation of the facilities without risk to the population and after proven compliance with the current environmental norms.
Last month, former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said after the unannounced visit to TPP Brikel, that the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter of the plant are 15 and 27 times above the safety limit.
The operation of TPP Brikel was already suspended in September 2019 due to illegal use of biomass as fuel for the plant’s boilers instead of coal, which is a breach of its operational license. The suspension was lifted after two weeks, since TPP Brikel removed the biomass fuel from its boilers.
Coal-fired TPP Brikel is located in the Maritsa East TS basin, it has 6 boilers with power output of 60 MW each and four turbines with power output of 50 MW each.
