In January the Ministry of Environment and Water published a document entitled “Calculation and Forecast of the Greenhouse Emission Factor of the National Electricity Grid of Republic of Bulgaria for the Period 2014 – 2020”.
Average emission factor
The emission factor defines the amount of greenhouse gas emissions (ton CO2) released during the production of a single unit of electricity (MWh).
The average operational emission factor of the electricity system is 0.616 tCO2/MWh and is calculated on the basis of historical data for the net electricity production and the emissions released in the country in the period 2011 – 2013.
Ranking of emitting plant
- By emissions amount in 2013
The total amount of emissions released in the country related to electricity production is 22.3 billion tCO2. 86% of them are caused by the thermal power plants (TPPs). 83% of the TPPs’ emissions are released by the three plants in the Maritsa Basin – “ME2” TPP, “Contour Global ME3” TPP and “AES ME1” TPP.
The emissions ranking in 2013 is headed by “Maritsa East 2” TPP (9.2 million tCO2), followed by “Contour Global ME3” TPP (3.4 million tCO2) and “AES Maritsa East 1” TPP (3.2 million tCO2).
The remaining 14% of the emissions in the sector in 2013 are released during the electricity production by district heating plants and autoproducers. Five of the 39 companies in total are causing 66% of the emissions from autoproducers and district heating plants, namely:
- “Sviloza” TPP (0,497 млн.т.CO2)
- “Ruse” DHC (0,427 млн.т.CO2)
- “Sofia” DHC (0,378 млн.т.CO2)
- “Pernik” DHC (0,369 млн.т.CO2)
- “Brikel” (0,354 млн. .т. CO2)
Three groups of emissions-free plants, have a zero contribution respectively to the emissions of the period observed – NPP, HPP and PSHPP. The increasing net amount of electricity from emissions-free generators contribute to the reduction of the emission factor of the Electricity sector.
- By emission factor in 2013
The plants with the highest emission factor are those, burning indigenous lignite coal. The ranking is lead by “Maritsa 3” TPP. The coal plant with the lowest emissions is “Varna” TPP, which burns import coal of a higher quality.
The district heating plants and the autoproducers, burning natural gas to produce electricity and heat energy, release from 2 to 3 times less emissions than the coal power plants.
