A new desulphurisation facility will catch the flue gases emitted by the first two units of coal-powered thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok II, Bulgarian media reported. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Environment and Waters Minister Djevdet Chakurov jointly inaugurated the facility, as well as the launch of unit 3 on October 13.

The new installation, with an efficiency of 94 per cent, is part of an encompassing rehabilitation programme, which set out in October 2004 and aims to make the plant fully compliant with EU environmental standards. An identical structure, cleansing gases of units 3 and 4, will be operational by early 2009.

The installation is 135m long with a chimney made of resin and fibre-glass.

The third unit now has installed capacity of 177MW, up from 150MW previously. On launch of the fourth unit, total capacity of the plant will increase by 350MW to 1576MW.

Rehabilitation at Maritsa Iztok II now focuses on the upgrade of units 4 through 6. Once revamped, the life of units 5 and 6 will be extended by 20 years each.

The upgrade cost the plant 228.6 million euro, of which 35 million euro came from proprietary funds and 187.03 million euro from a state-guaranteed export loan from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation. The project contractor is Japanese firm Mitsui.