site.btaContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 TPP Stops Feeding Electricity to the Grid

The ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 TPP stopped feeding electricity to the national grid Wednesday midnight, the Electricity System Operator (ESO) confirmed to BTA. The coal-fired plant is one of four power plants in the Maritsa East Energy Complex in South Central Bulgaria.

The plant's contract for electricity purchase with the National Electric Company (NEK) EAD expired and the company is in the free market, BTA learned from Stefan Stefanov, President of the local chapter of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB). The plant is not operating right now as prices are very low: Tuesday's price of BGN 145 per MWh is way below the cost price of BGN 250. Electricity is being imported at very low prices, he said.

Stefanov said layoffs were not planned for now. the company will try to operate seasonally. It will undergo maintenance in the summer and will be used as balancing capacity afterwards.

Deyan Dyakov, CITUB President at TPP Maritsa East 2, said that if they can sell electricity at a profit in October, they will continue to operate and pay for carbon emissions; otherwise there will be job cuts.

Dyakov said the Troyanovo-3 Mine had suspended operation for several months now "because ContourGlobal have not placed coal orders for six months. They have been using coal that was in storage and Troyanovo-3 has not mined coal for a long time".

In 2009, ContourGlobal, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange at the time, acquired the Maritsa East 3 TPP and signed a 15-year purchase contract with NEK. In 2022, ContourGlobal sold its stake to global private equity firm KKR. NEK holds a 27% stake in the plant.