Activists of the Green Action NGO protested in front of the headquarters of Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) electricity provider in Zagreb on Tuesday demanding the closure of the Plomin 2 thermal power plant on the Croatian northern peninsula of Istria in the next few years because, in the last four years alone, HEP had paid €127 million on account of carbon dioxide emissions from this power station.

The NGO said that they had put up a banner with the inscription “€127 million in smoke or in clean energy?” and a mock-up of the Plomin 2 thermal power plant with smoke and solar panels coming out of it.

That €127 million is only the cost of CO2 emissions, and all other standard operating costs of the power plant need to be included on top of that.

“Had HEP invested that money in solar and wind power plants, this year it would have produced enough electricity to supply as many as 66,000 households. Also, the cost of emissions is fast increasing,” warned Bernard Ivcic from Green Action.

Ivcic noted that coal-fired thermal power plants are harmful to the environment, climate, and human health, and are also unprofitable. “HEP should prepare a plan for the closure of Plomin 2 in the next few years, and that energy should be replaced by renewables which would provide new jobs,” he said.

Under the European Emissions Trading System, polluters such as heavy industry and coal-fired power plants are required to acquire emission units to cover emissions on an annual basis. Operators need one emission unit for each tonne of CO2 emitted.

The cost of CO2 emissions has been rising continuously in recent years and this year it could be more than €50 million, added Ivcic.

It seems that Plomin 2 will have to sell 20 to 30 per cent of the electricity produced at market prices in order to cover this year’s emission costs. Other operational costs also need to be added to this, such as the cost of coal, which was twice as high last year as the previous year, said Ivcic.