Contrary to EU recovery plan: Bulgaria postpones coal phase-out to 2038

Contrary to the EU construction plan
Bulgaria postpones coal phase-out to 2038

With the help of coal power, Bulgaria covers a good half of the electricity consumption in the country. However, the EU plan envisages an end to the power plants by 2026. Despite the requirements, Parliament now decides to extend the term and agrees to negotiations with the EU Commission.

Bulgaria wants to postpone the planned closure of its coal-fired power plants by around 12 years to 2038 – although this runs counter to the country’s EU recovery plan. The parliament in Sofia instructed the government to negotiate with the EU Commission about withdrawing the corresponding obligation. It stipulates that carbon dioxide emissions in the energy industry should be reduced by 40 percent by the end of 2025 compared to 2019, which is expected to be equivalent to a coal phase-out in 2026.

However, employees of coal-fired power plants and coal mines demonstrated in parliament to postpone the closure of their plants until 2038. They complained that the implementation of the previous goals would endanger energy security and many jobs. The parliamentary decision in favor of the coal-fired power plants finally came out with an overwhelming majority of 187 votes in favor, with only two votes against and nine abstentions.

According to industry sources, Bulgaria’s coal-fired power plants generate half of the country’s total electricity needs in the summer months. During the heating season it is almost 60 percent. Most of them have already started implementing projects to diversify the fuel mix and phase out coal. But this cannot be fully achieved within three years, according to an open letter from the industry to the state and parliamentary leadership from November 2022. The greenhouse gases released when gas, oil and coal are burned are the main reason for global warming and their fatal consequences, i.e. more and more droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, floods and sea level rise.

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