In Bulgaria, like many countries in the rest of Europe, companies follow the European Union (EU) directive on CO2 emissions and tariffs.

Svilosa from the Bulgarian town of Svishtov is one such company that has decided to employ Chinese technology to combat both its carbon footprint and the pollution resulting from production as residual waste. 

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CGTN Europe visited the construction site of the new power plant at the banks of the Danube, the second-longest river in Europe.

Staff at the Chinese Jinan Boiler Group were hard at work despite the strong winds and sub-zero temperatures. Engineers were going through the construction blueprints of the electrical power plant that they are currently building. 

Turning biomass waste into electricity

It is a project worth just under $50 million, located inside the Svilosa plant, the largest cellulose producer in the country. The main purpose of this power plant will be to use the factory's industrial biomass waste and turn it into electrical energy. 

"This project is the first power plant project of a Chinese company in Bulgaria, and it is also the first biomass power plant project undertaken by Jinan Boiler Group in the European Union," Zhang Jun, Head of the Construction Site from Jinan Boiler Group told CGTN Europe. 

"At the same time, it is significant for our operations as it would open the doors to other markets outside the EU."

Hence it is no surprise that the Chinese partners are putting extra effort into this project. 

"We reviewed many options," Ivan Ganev, Svilosa's Commercial Manager explained. "At the end, after comparing the price and quality of technology, we chose the Jinan Boiler Group."

Environmental and financial gains

The technology will help reduce the biomass waste that the company deposits in the open. 

Instead of slowly rotting in the fields, polluting the local waters, and emitting huge quantities of CO2 into the air during the long decay process, now all that waste will be burned in this boiler at the rate of 14 tons per hour. The steam produced will then turn the turbine blades and produce electricity.

Once the made-in-China turbine inside the power plant becomes operational, it will produce 16 megawatts of electricity. 

The new power plant will help the Svilosa factory reduce pollution but also become provide its own energy. 

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Cover image: Staff from the Jinan Boiler Group inspect blueprints of the new plant./Aljosa Milenkovic/CGTN Europe