site.btaBrikel Coal-Fired Power Plant Ceases Operations

By order of Stara Zagora Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) Director Diana Iskreva a coercive administrative measure was imposed Monday on TPP Brikel, in the town of Galabovo, Southern Bulgaria, with which the activity of the coal-fired thermal power plant was suspended.

The suspension 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, the Director of RIEW-Stara Zagora told BTA.

The order was delivered on July 29, 2022, at 1:30 pm, to the head of the company. In fulfillment of the order, a commission was appointed to carry out the sealing of facilities in the installation.

Upon delivery of the order, the company submitted a motivated letter to the Director of RIEW - Stara Zagora, with justification and a general description of the reasons why the plant cannot be stopped safely immediately.

The steam generators will be phased out, after exhausting their available fuel and after having cooled down. This is required as a measure to prevent accidents from storing fuel in boiler bunkers.

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 Friday, at the final weekly meeting of the government, outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that the Brikel thermal power plant will be closed down due to "shocking violations" of its integrated permit. 

Petkov and Environment Minister Borislav Sandov made a surprise check at Brikel on July 19 and found that sulphur dioxide and particulate matter in the air were 15 and 27 times above the respective safety limit, respectively. Brikel TPP had been issued dozens of statements of violations and administrative penalty decrees, which has not been enough to stop pollution, said Sandov.