Bulgaria's TPP Maritsa Iztok 2 H1 Net Loss Soars on Higher Emission Allowance Costs
The net loss of state-owned Bulgarian coal-fired power plant Maritsa Iztok 2 widened sharply in the first half of 2018, as expenses for purchasing emission allowances soared, figures from the company's financial report show. Maritsa Iztok 2 recorded a net loss of 121.3 million levs ($72 million/62 million euro) in the first six months of 2018, more than three times larger than the loss of 36.2 million levs in the prior-year period, according to figures from the power plant's unaudited interim financial statement. The plant's expenses for greenhouse gas emission allowances jumped to 115.3 million levs in the first six months of the year, from 37.1 million levs in the corresponding period of 2017.The greenhouse gas emission allowances are part of the EU Emissions Trading System, which works on the “cap and trade” principle. Within the cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances which they can trade among themselves as needed.