JEPE Book3 2016 831-839
JEPE Book3 2016 831-839
JEPE Book3 2016 831-839
net/publication/322600249
Recent Dynamics of Air Pollution from Thermal Power Plants – Evidence from
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece
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Atmospheric pollution
M. ISTRATE*, A. BANICA
Faculty of Geography and Geology ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University of Iasi,
20A ‘Carol I’ Blvd., 700 505 Iasi, Romania
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract. Thermal power plants (TPPs) using fossil fuel are the most important industrial sources of
air pollution in European Union. The present study takes into consideration three Balkan countries
that are part of the European Union (Romania, Bulgaria and Greece), highlighting the dynamics
of the energy sector in order to evaluate its contribution to diminishing air quality mainly by SO2,
NOx and dust emissions. The statistical and cartographic analysis from local to county level and
from regional to national scale is an opportunity to consider some important hotspots of industrial
air pollution and their impact in the last decade, as well as the effectiveness of the modernisation
process (transposed in cleaner more efficiently produced energy). The final outcomes are intended
to support an evaluation of the effectiveness of national policies in restructuring the national power
generation sector in each of the three Balkan countries.
Keywords: thermal power plants, air pollution, eco-efficiency, Eastern Balkan countries, energy
policies.
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A recent Greenpeace report6 suggests that Europe needs urgent action in order
to limit the rapid increase of emissions from TPPs that run on fossil fuels, thus
contributing to reducing the global warming. There is a strong interdependence
between economy, the energy sector, ecology and efficiency in environmental
and air quality (so called 3E + E) (Ref. 7). Electricity production in TPPs has a
significant influence in disrupting the ecological balance, both in close and distant
environment, on short and long run, so it takes a series of measures to reduce the
impact of the energy sector on the environment: re-engineering or replacing of the
power plant units by implementing highly efficient technologies, promoting co-
generation and investments in using renewable energy sources, increasing thermal
performance of buildings, modernisation of transport and distribution of thermal
energy, use of bio-fuels, etc.8
The present paper takes as case studies Romania (RO), Bulgaria (BG) and
Greece (GR), trying to highlight the dynamics of the energy sector based on the
use of fossil fuels, in order to draw an overview of future developments of the re-
lationship between the operation of power plants and air quality. The three Eastern
Balkans countries are important regional electricity suppliers, but, at present, they
are confronted with both higher demands and energy deficiency. Many thermal
capacities in the region were installed between 1960 and 1980, exceeding their
normal lifetime, and, in addition, they were not initially equipped with pollution
control equipment (except for solid particles filtration)9. As full members of the
European Union, the analysed countries have committed to fulfil by 2020 all
the European Commission provisions and to reduce by 20% the amount of CO2
emitted into the atmosphere10, but also other emissions such as SO2 and NOx as
it is required by target values for each EU country stated by National Emissions
Ceilings (NEC Directive 2001/81/EC) (Ref. 11).
Starting from these aspects, the main objectives of current work were: (1)
making a comprehensive analysis of the air pollution from TPPs that are also LCPs
(have an installed capacity of at least 50 MW) by using a multi-scale approach;
(2) studying air pollution related aspects of the eco-efficiency of the energy sector
in the three countries, i.e. delivering competitively-priced sufficient energy while
reducing emissions; (3) debating the effectiveness of the energy sector policies in
the studied area during the last decade.
EXPERIMENTAL
The statistical and cartographic analyses were the main research tools to high-
light some important hotspots of industrial air pollution and their impact in the
last decade. To this end, a database was created, the most important data sources
being provided by European Environment Agency (EEA) (reported data on large
combustion plants covered by Directive 2001/80/EC) and Eurostat. On this basis
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a series of indicators was calculated and mapped (by using ArcGis 10 software):
average capacity and dynamics of LCP (2007–2012), average emissions of nitrogen
oxides, sulphur dioxide and dust, but also the dynamics of the eco-efficiency in
energy production, i.e. the report between produced energy and emissions which
was studied using linear regression. Indicators were aggregated at county level by
using plant-by-plant emissions data from EEA. The final outcomes are intended to
support an evaluation of the effectiveness of national policies in restructuring the
national power generation sector for each of the three Balkan countries.
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60 100 b
a 90
50 80
40 70
60
30 50
%
%
40
20 30
10 20
10
0 0
1990
1992
1994
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2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
1990
1992
1994
1996
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2004
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2008
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2012
EU (28 countries) Bulgaria Greece Romania EU (28 countries) Bulgaria Greece Romania
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c
50
40
%
30
20
10
0
1990
1992
1994
1996
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2000
2002
2004
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2010
2012
EU (28 countries) Bulgaria Greece Romania
Fig. 1. Percentage of pollutants emitted by the energy production from total emissions of: SO2 (a);
NOx (b), and greenhouse gases (c) (data source: Eurostat, 2016)
If calculating nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and dust average emissions and
their dynamics between 2007 and 2012, one can notice that LCP air quality impact
has different spatial patterns in each of the three countries (Fig. 2).
In Romania, the units in South-West, South and West regions are large produc-
ers of energy, but also major polluters even at European level (Turceni, Rovinari),
with high emissions of SO2 (Gorj, Dolj), NO2 (Gorj, DrobetaTurnuSeverin) and dust
(Cluj, Salaj, Timis). In Bulgaria, there are three regional hubs with high production
capacity: one in the West (centered on the capital city, Sofia), one in the centre
(with Stara Zagora and Maritsa Iztok, the largest energy complex in South-Eastern
Europe) and one in the east (centred on Varna). In Greece, the situation is similar,
with three regional hubs, in this case oriented North-South: in the North – West
Macedonia (Kozani is the most important polluter), many of the plants are old,
as the lignite business already started in the 1950s, and do not comply with the
EU emission standards14, in the centre, around Athens, and in the south, in Crete.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), among the 20 most
polluting coal-fired plants, nine can be found in our study area. Maritza Iztok 2,
Galabovo and Bobovdol (BG), Turceni and Rovinari (RO) and Megalopolis and
Kozani (GR) are at the top of this hierarchy15.
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Fig. 2. Average annual emissions (2007–2012) (t) of: NOx – a, dust – b, and SO2 – c (data source:
EEA, 2016)
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Fig. 3. Linear regressions indicating correlations between coal use and SO2 emissions (a, b) and
between total energy produced and dust emissions (c, d) in 2007 and 2012 (data source: EEA, 2016)
By observing and interpreting the residual values of the correlations, one can
highlight some particular cases of highly excessive quantities of dust and SO2
emissions when reported to the resulted energy at Kozani (GR),Timisoara, Zalau
and Doicesti (RO), Pernik, Bobovdol and Beloslav (BG). On the contrary, low
quantities of pollutants per TJ, therefore a good eco-effectiveness, can be noticed
in case of other thermo-plants from Lavreotiki, Megalopolis and Florina (GR),
those from the capitals of Romania and Bulgaria, but also some very LCPs such
as Galabovo and Radnevo. Between 2007–2012, positive dynamics have been
achieved by after modernising large combustion plants such as Megalopolis (GR),
Galabovo (BG), Oradea and Deva (RO), but also Kozani (GR), while the emissions
rate are increasing at Bobovdol (BG), Cluj-Napoca and Zalau (RO).
In this context, strategies for developing the energy sector in these countries
include preventive measures to cut emissions: increasing the proportion of natural
gas used in the production of electricity and thermal energy, replacing fuels with a
high sulphur content (especially lignite) with other energy resources, construction
of desulphurisation installations in the case of large power plants, introduction of
primary and secondary measures related to nitrogen oxides and rehabilitation of
electrostatic precipitators, etc.1
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One should also add economic profitability to the issues related to environmen-
tal compliance, which should be taken into account when outlining the directions
for policies in the energy sector. TPPs can not compete on the market with other
cheaper energy sources such as hydropower. Often, governments decide to grant
priority access to the grid to fossil fuels power plants in front of other manufactur-
ers which are more profitable and less polluting. Meanwhile, in RO, implementing
Directive 2010/75/EU offered two choices to energy groups benefitting from the
exemption that allowed their operation to be decommissioned for up to 20 000 h
if not complying with the emission limits of pollutants or to be retrofitted in order
to match the applicable emission limits for newly built power units.
Theoretically, in BG, the liberalisation of electricity is carried out in accord-
ance with the requirements of the EU legislation. In reality, this process is quite
slow and aims, on one hand, at creating the conditions for fair competition between
economic actors in the energy market and, on the other hand, enabling consumers
to choose their supplier16. The thermal energy sector is traditionally considered as
being of strategic importance for the economic development of the country, which
explains the interest of the BG government to invest in new capacities, to reha-
bilitate TPPs that have been operating for over 35 years and to expand the power
supply network of the country. Major investments are still required for modernising
the decrepit power plants substations and distribution grid17.
In GR, lignite, from its own production, is still competitive if compared to
imports of other sources of energy (natural gas, for example), but it is expected that
its depletion time is rather short and shall vary from 20 to 45 years18. Nevertheless,
new coal-based controversial TPPs were still recently built (see ‘Ptolemaida V’
project). Meanwhile, strategic priorities now include reorganising old and inef-
ficient plants by optimising their performance factor and promoting investment
in renewable energies19. The high recession has also had a negative impact on the
energy sector development in GR, the energy production dropping in 2012, by
8.5% compared to the previous year, while the price for consumers increased.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece make efforts to keep the European Standard
of Quality. The new plans for TPPs include using modern technologies, such as
Capture and Storage of Coal. There are projects in progress which will provide
increased capacities by another 4150 MW installed thermal power capacity in RO,
1350 MW in BG and 1650 MW in GR (Ref. 6). In this context, it is important to
highlight that the emissions from one country contribute to the background pollution
of the whole region (and even beyond it) by transboundary exchange of pollutants
that include oxidised and reduced sulphur and nitrogen load16. Therefore, the above
mentioned propositions should be related to implementing technologies permitting
the achievement of reduced dust, SO2 and NOx emissions.
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CONCLUSIONS
The thermal energy sector is traditionally considered to have a strategic importance
in the economic development of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Therefore, this
explains the governments interest to improve the TPPs which have been in use for
over 35 years, to invest in new plants and to extend the energy networks. Energy
still remains the main industrial air pollution source, so measures must be taken
for more eco-efficiency.
There is growing evidence that all three countries, where the energy sector
contributes more to the total air pollution than the EU28 average, are already expe-
riencing health and environmental effects of air pollution and climate change, and
scientific models predict alarmingly increasing rates for morbidity and mortality
in the coming decades. In the past 10 years, efforts have been made to modernise
large power plants by equipping them with facilities to reduce emissions. A further
reduction of the use of classic fuels (and especially lignite) for the electricity and
heat production in the Eastern Balkans is a prerequisite for a further decoupling
of energy production from the generation of high quantities of pollutants.
Acknowledgements. This work was financially supported by the Department of Geography from the
‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University of Iasi, and the infrastructure was provided through the POSCCE-
O 2.2.1, SMIS-CSNR 13984-901, No 257/28.09.2010 Project, CERNESIM (L4).
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Received 8 June 2016
Revised 25 July 2016
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