The Bulgarian authorities has closed down two more units of the troubled thermal power plant Brikel owned by controversial energy tycoon Hristo Kovachki.
The measure is in accordance with a government plant to shut the plant because of its lack of desulphurisation facilities as required by EU law.
When in October the fate of the facility became clear the several hundred workers of the plant, which is located near the town of Galabovo in the Maritsa East thermal power complex, staged protest rallies which caused the government to make an agreement with trade unions to allow a part of the plant to function for six more months in order to provide heating for the local communities during the winter and to preserve a number of jobs for a while longer. Therefore two of the six units of Brikel will be allowed to operate until April 30, 2011.
The government closure of Brikel is an administrative measure undertaken in accordance with the plants 2006 permit, in which its management committed to fulfilling Directive 2001/80 of the EC. It allowed the plant to operate for 20 000 hours without sulphur extraction.
But inspection by state offiicials has indicated that Brikel management failed to invest in the necessary environment-friendly facilities, and that by June 2010, it had run without them for 21 000 hours. On 20 October accordingly the government terminated all coal supplies to the Brikel thermal power plant.
A government sponsored compromise measure in which the 137 companies in the country with carbon dioxide quotas whould donate a proportion to save Brikel seems to have foundered.
Brikel is owned by Bulgarian energy tycoon Hristo Kovachki, who has been investigated for tax evasion. In 2008, Kovachki, in his capacity as an informal leader, set up a political party called LIDER, with the former CEO of Brikel, Kancho Filipov, becoming its chair. In 2009, LIDER came close to making it to the Bulgarian Parliament amidst allegations that the management of the plants owned by Kovachki pressured the workers to vote for the party.
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