Market economics are likely to slash Bulgaria’s use of coal-fuelled power years before the government’s official 2038 phase out date, the country’s climate minister said on Monday.
Bulgaria produces more than 40% of its electricity from coal, ahead of other sources including nuclear energy and hydropower.
Its target to phase out coal-fuelled power by 2038 has been attacked both by climate campaigners who say it is too late, and miners who took to the streets last year to protest the plan to gradually cut coal generation.
Climate minister Julian Popov said, however, he expects market forces to herald an earlier demise of the most CO2-emitting fossil fuel.
“There’s no chance for Bulgarian coal to operate materially after 2030. They are private companies, most of the coal operators are private companies. They are operating at a loss. So what do you think can happen?” Popov told reporters in Brussels.
“The market is kicking them out,” he added.
The European Union carbon market requires power plants to pay for every tonne of CO2 they produce, which makes more polluting energy sources more expensive and green sources more economically competitive.
This helped cut coal’s share of Europe’s power mix in the last decade, in favor of renewables and gas, which is still a fossil fuel but produces less CO2 emissions.
Popov said countries should proceed with caution, and keep some assets as emergency capacity that could fire up if power prices spike, like they did last year when Russia slashed gas deliveries to Europe.
But with renewable energy expanding and green technologies developing quickly, he said soon coal would not be needed.
The EU announced 1.2 billion euros in December to create new jobs for coal workers and install renewable energy in Bulgaria’s Stara Zagora, Kyustendil and Pernik regions.
