Comunicat de presă - noiembrie 7, 2017
All coal power plants in Romania will need to be modernized in order to conform to the new, more restrictive emission standards, according to the Greenpeace report launched today. The total expenditure needed to conform the coal power plants in Romania to the new standards is estimated at 1.6-1.9 billion euros.
New regulations regarding industrial emissions were published in 2017. The EU just adopted a new legislation meant to protect the health of its citizens by reducing pollution from the energy industry.
The regulations refer to reducing some pollutants, such as suspended particles, nitrogen oxides, Sulphur dioxide and mercury, which are damaging to human health. The new regulations are more restrictive than the existing ones and the process is cyclical – every 4 to 6 years, the emission limits are revised and become more restrictive. The power plants will have to conform through investments in modernization and the deadline is 2021.
For the coal power plants, this not only mean additional expenditures, but also recalculating the operational profits, in order to take an informed decision if the following upgrading is economically viable or if the coal power plants have to be phased out.
The energy groups will need to determine the economic viability of the continuation of the upgrading process, taking into account the recurring tightening of the emission standards, but also the age of the Romanian power plants. The great majority (over 85%) of the coal power plants in Romania are older than 30 years and have reached the estimated operating lifetime.
„Instead of investing 2 billion euros in an expensive and polluting industry that belongs in the past, it’s timelier that the state phases it out by 2021 and this huge amount of money is allocated to investments in cheap, clean, renewable energy. Only this way Romania can be on the same line with the commitments taken by Europe and Romania at the Paris climate summit,” said Alin Tanase, climate campaigner at Greenpeace Romania.
The report is avaliable here