Maritsa Iztok-2 power station

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Maritsa Iztok-2 power station is an operating power station of at least 1602-megawatts (MW) in Kovachevo, Galabovo, Bulgaria with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Maritsa Iztok-2 power station	Kovachevo, Galabovo, Bulgaria	42.254053, 26.134007 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• 1, Unit 1, Unit 10, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8, Unit 9: 42.254053, 26.134007

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	CHP	Start year
1	Shelved	fossil gas: natural gas, other: hydrogen (unknown)	1000	combined cycle	not found	–
Unit 1	Operating	coal: lignite	177	subcritical	–	1966
Unit 10	Cancelled	coal: lignite	280	unknown	–	–
Unit 2	Operating	coal: lignite	165	subcritical	–	1967
Unit 3	Operating	coal: lignite	177	subcritical	–	1967
Unit 4	Operating	coal: lignite	177	subcritical	–	1968
Unit 5	Operating	coal: lignite	210	subcritical	–	1985
Unit 6	Operating	coal: lignite	232	subcritical	–	1985
Unit 7	Operating	coal: lignite	232	subcritical	–	1990
Unit 8	Operating	coal: lignite	232	subcritical	–	1995
Unit 9	Cancelled	coal: lignite	280	unknown	–	–

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
1	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 1	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 10	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 2	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 3	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 4	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 5	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 6	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 7	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 8	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]
Unit 9	TPP Maritsa East 2 EAD [100%]	Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): Maritsa Iztok coal basin

Financing

• Source of financing: JBIC

Background

Maritsa Iztok-2 is the largest thermal power plant in the Balkans. It is located 60 km from Stara Zagora in the vicinity of the village of Radetski and the dam lake Ovcharitsa. The construction of Maritsa Iztok-2 started on 7 May 1962; it was inaugurated on 10 November 1966. Between 1979 and 1995 the power station was expanded by four additional units.

Maritsa Iztok-2 is wholly state-owned. It is a subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH).

It consists of eight generating units, two of which are equipped with flue gas desulphurization plants. It is a key element in the Bulgarian electric power system by providing the base load for consumption and frequency regulation in the system. Coal is supplied by the Maritsa Coal Mines.

Controversies

In March 2023, The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Bulgaria broke the law by allowing the Maritsa Istok-2 plant to pollute the air with sulphur dioxide (SO2) beyond EU legal limits. At the end of 2018, the Bulgarian government granted the plant a derogation so that the plant could burn more coal. The derogation gave the coal plant’s operators indefinite permission to emit almost double the amount of sulphur dioxide (SO2) allowed by EU law, to the detriment of the lives and wellbeing of people in the surrounding area.

In August 2023, it was reported that the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court had referred a court challenge against the derogation back to a lower court, effectively allowing the plant to continue polluting beyond legal limits.

In March 2024, the Administrative Court in Stara Zagora ruled in favor of a legal challenge brought by Greenpeace Bulgaria and other NGOs and quashed the 2018 permit that allowed Maritsa Iztok-2 to exceed EU limits for sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions. The ruling culminates a five-year legal process by Greenpeace - Bulgaria, Za Zemiata (Friends of the Earth – Bulgaria), ClientEarth, and Greek-based The Green Tank challenging the air pollution permit for the plant. The latest court decision can be appealed. The power station was reportedly using only 30% of its total capacity and nearing insolvency.

Capacity and Production

The company's financial report for 2022 stated capacity of 1,610MW. However the sum of unit capacities available suggest capacity of 1,602 MW.

The plant sold 8,406,338 MWh of electricity in 2022, 64% higher than in 2021.

Maritsa Iztok-2 Units 1-6 rehabilitation project

In 2004, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) provided 85% of the funding for a €306.5 million project to rehabilitate Units 1-4. The remainder was financed by Bulbank. The project included replacing old turbines and generators with new ones and adding fluidized gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. In addition, funds were provided to refurbish the turbines for Units 5 and 6. The lead contractor was Japan’s Mitsui Power Projects, which won a €226mn contract for the work in April 2003. The lead subcontractors were Japan’s Toshiba and IHI.

The overhauls for Units 1 and 2 were completed in 2007.

Another project involved adding FGD systems for Units 5&6. This was expected to cost €80.3 million, with 46% provided by an EU Structural Policies for Pre-accession (ISPA) grant, 42% from a syndicated loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) agreed in November 2004, and the rest from equity.

The Unit-3 overhaul and the FGD retrofit were completed in October 2008.

According to an auditor's report, Unit 1 went into operation after rehabilitation in September 2007 at 177 MW; Unit 2 went into operation after rehabilitation in May 2007 at 165 MW; Unit 3 went into operation at 177 MW in November 2008; and Unit 4 went into operation at 177 MW at the beginning of 2009. In 2010, Unit 6 went into operation after rehabilitation at 232 MW; at the beginning of 2011, Unit 8 did the same.

In December 2014 the project for rehabilitation of unit 5 and 7 turbines was completed, due to which the installed capacity of the plant reached 1610 MW.

Maritsa Iztok-2 Units 9 and 10

In November 2012, Bulgarian Energy Holding announced that it was making plans to build two new units at the Maritsa Iztok-2 station, and seeking a strategic investor, with whom costs and revenues would be split on a percentage ownership basis. Each new unit would be 280 MW.

In February 2015 it was reported that the state-owned Electricity System Operator believed Maritsa-Iztok 2 would not need an expansion by units 9 and 10 over the next 10 years. The forecast was part of a draft plan for the development of the country's electricity network in the period 2015-2024.

As of May 2017 there was no longer any official mention of plans for the units, which appear cancelled.

Coal Phase-out

In 2021, Bulgaria indicated that it may close all coal-fired power plants by 2025. As part of this coal phase-out, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan highlighted that for Maritsa Iztok 2 power station, 1.4 GW of coal capacity will be replaced with a minimum of 1 GW of gas. However, the plans were cancelled in early 2022, citing energy security concerns and a growing awareness of the lock-in effects of investing in more fossil-fuel fired infrastructure.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) approved in April 2022 referred to 2038 as the (non-binding) coal phase-out date. The NRPP included also targets for CO2 reduction until 2025, with 8% reduction by the end of 2022, 18% reduction by the end of 2023, 28% reduction by the end of 2024, and 40% by the end of 2025, versus 2019 levels. 2022 target was not achieved as coal-fired generation increased on the back of the war in Ukraine and the cut-off from Russian gas.

In January 2023, Bulgarian Ministry of Energy published its Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development of the Energy Sector up to 2053. The document acknowledged that the drastic reduction of CO2 emissions from coal plants by 2025 stipulated in the 2022 NRRP was unrealistic, threatens national energy system stability and will be difficult to achieve in view of current high market prices. As a result, the strategy recommends the use of domestic coal resources by 2030 and their gradual reduction until decommissioning by 2038.

As of June 2023, it is understood that an updated NRPP and a coal phase-out schedule may be renegotiated with the European Commission later in 2023.

According to reporting from April 2024, miners and power station workers have called for subsidies for the construction of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at the Maritsa-Iztok 2 plant. A spokesperson for the workers' coalition said a CCS unit would "make the plant competitive on the electricity market and prevent its closure".

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.