EU’s biggest CO2 polluter is expanding

A huge, coal-fired power plant in Belchatow, Poland, pollutes more today than its EU-set CO2-ceiling and has to buy up to 20 million tonnes of CO2 emission permits by 2013. After that, it will produce even larger amounts of CO2 when a new, 858 megawatt block becomes fully operational.
The Belchatow plant in central Poland is the biggest CO2 polluter in the European Union. Last year it released nearly 31 million tonnes of CO2, topping by four million tonnes its EU-set ceiling."Our emissions in coming years of the 2008-2012 accounting period will stand at similar levels. So at the end of the whole period, we will be short some 14-20 million tonnes of CO2 permits," the head of Belchatow, Jacek Kaczorowski says in an interview with Reuters.Belchatow can continue its emissions beyond its EU-set ceiling if it buys CO2 permits on the market. After 2013 Belchatow plans to curb its increase in CO2 emissions by pumping CO2 into the underground.
The capture and storage (CCS) installation is planned to hold one third of the emissions generated by the new block. The CCS-installation might be co-financed by the EU.
"But even if we don't get the EU money, we will have to go on with the project because of the need to cut emissions," Kaczorowski says. "We have to go on developing more CCS to remain competitive."