Bulgaria, Coal-fired power plant Brikel in Galabovo will be shut down

Bulgarian outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that coal-fired power plant Brikel in Galabovo will be shut down due to severe violations of its integrated permit.

Last week, PM 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 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 basin, it has 6 boilers with power output of 60 MW each and four turbines with power output of 50 MW each.