In 2019, TPSs emitted 46 percent of the total amount of harmful pollutant emissions in the country.
Silvia Todorova - a chemical engineer, technologist, and economist who specialized in Great Britain and Japan. She's the Director of the "Entrepreneurship" Centre and Head of the "Economic and Financial Affairs" Program at the Bulgarian Industrial Association. She discusses the latest postponement and the best available techniques in combustion plants which were announced yesterday during the press conference of the newly appointed Ministry of Environment and Waters. What does this all mean for business and Bulgaria? More information from the press conference and derogation of the TPSs can be found HERE.
Will a derogation for industrial pollution be presented to the EC for TPSs in the Marishki basin? Why is it necessary and what will it lead to?
The submission of the current request for derogation is made according to the parameters of Directive 2010/75 / EU and related EC decisions, including Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1135 determining the type, format, and frequency of information which have to be submitted by the Member States on the implementation of Directive 2010/75 / EU on Industrial Emissions and Commission Decision № 2017/1442 / EU on the Formulation of Conclusions on the best available for large combustion plants.
An additional factor in granting the derogation is the constant need to strike a balance between many factors and objectives - economic, social, environmental, and well-being. These include the use of thermal power plants as a basis for our energy system, the uncertainties surrounding the plans for transformation and fair transition, the need to maintain employment in the regions where the plants are located, to improve the skills or retraining of the workforce, to ensure a healthy and ecological environment.
Thermal power plants with combustion plants using local coal resources were also used in 2017 and took advantage of the opportunities for derogation under Art. 15, para. 4 of the Directive, which allowed them to comply with more liberal levels of emission limit values for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust. Accordingly, the derogation was applied after analysis and assessment which point out that the new emission levels by the specific installations would lead to disproportionately higher costs compared to the environmental benefits.
In the national legislation the procedure for granting derogations is provided in Chapter VII, Section II of the Environmental Protection Act when conducting the procedures for issuing/reviewing and, if necessary, updating the complex permits. At the end of last year, two requests were submitted for updating complex permits in connection with the planned modernization and changes in the operation of coal-fired power plant installations.
