A Bulgarian court has upheld a €154,000 environmental penalty against the Bobov Dol coal-fired power plant after finding that the facility breached several conditions of its integrated environmental permit.
The Dupnitsa Regional Court confirmed that the Sofia Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water acted lawfully when it imposed the sanction under Bulgaria’s Environmental Protection Act. The case concerned failures in the operation of the plant’s emissions-control equipment and the uncontrolled release of flue gases.
The breaches were identified during an unannounced inspection on 23 September 2025, initiated after complaints from residents living near the power station. Inspectors found that emissions from an operating boiler had bypassed gas-cleaning and flue-gas desulphurisation systems before being released directly into the atmosphere.
An automatic monitoring station in Golemo Selo, around 700 metres from the plant, recorded sulphur dioxide concentrations above the permitted limit for two consecutive hours. Inspectors also reported a strong sulphur smell in the surrounding area.
The permit violations covered several operational requirements, including the controlled discharge of flue gases, prevention of air-pollution limit exceedances and restriction of odours beyond the plant perimeter. The court rejected the operator’s request to cancel or reduce the fine, concluding that the breaches could not be treated as minor because they affected environmental protection and public health.
The judges also found no material procedural shortcomings in the enforcement process. In assessing the proportionality of the penalty, they considered both the seriousness of the incident and the plant’s history of similar violations.
The ruling follows a separate decision issued earlier in July, when the same court confirmed another environmental fine exceeding €100,000 against Bobov Dol. During the first 11 months of 2025, inspectors issued 17 violation reports involving the facility.
Regulatory pressure has consequently moved beyond isolated monetary penalties. In May, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Environment and Water ordered a partial shutdown after repeated inspections identified recurring breaches of the plant’s integrated permit, including unauthorised releases of waste gases. The ministry subsequently confirmed that the restrictions would remain in place until the operator demonstrated full compliance.
For Bobov Dol, the financial exposure is no longer limited to the nominal value of the fines. Partial operating restrictions reduce available generation, while repeated enforcement action can increase maintenance expenditure, insurance costs and the difficulty of securing finance for refurbishment.
Environmental non-compliance can also undermine revenues at moments when ageing coal plants might otherwise benefit from high regional electricity prices. A unit that is unavailable during evening scarcity periods loses not only baseload production but also the most profitable hours of the day.
The court decision reinforces the increasingly direct connection between environmental systems and plant bankability. Flue-gas desulphurisation, continuous emissions monitoring, operating procedures and maintenance records are no longer peripheral compliance matters. They determine whether a plant can legally operate, whether its output can be contracted and whether lenders can rely on future cash flows.
Bulgaria still uses coal generation to support system adequacy, particularly during winter peaks and periods of low renewable output. That system role, however, does not shield operators from permit enforcement. Bobov Dol’s repeated violations show that coal assets unable to maintain functioning emissions controls face growing operational as well as regulatory risk.
