After exhausting its emissions cap, the Počerady power plant in Czechia must shut down, environmentalists say

The Počerady lignite-fired power plant in the Louny region has been granted an emissions exemption. The Ústí nad Labem Regional Authority has set the maximum amount of mercury the plant may still emit. Once it exhausts its emissions cap, it must cease operations, non-governmental organisations said in a statement sent to the Czech News Agency (ČTK). The Regional Authority’s decision is not yet final. Počerady is owned by Sev.en Česká energie, which wants to operate the plant for as long as possible, group spokesperson Eva Maříková told ČTK.

The original exemption, granted in 2021, was revoked by a court last year. The newly issued extension is due to remain in force until August 2029. At the request of the expert group Frank Bold, environmental organisations Hnutí DUHA and Greenpeace, and local associations from Most and Litvínov, the Regional Authority set an emissions cap and a binding condition requiring the plant to be shut down once that cap is exhausted, the organisations said. They estimate that the plant will operate until 2028 or 2029, depending on its output.

The Regional Authority did not set a date for the plant to cease operations, but rather a maximum total volume of emissions that may be released before it shuts down, Ústí nad Labem Region spokesperson Magdalena Fraňková told ČTK. The decision is not yet final, as it can be appealed to the Ministry of the Environment.

According to Eliška Beranová of Frank Bold Society, the Regional Authority granted the exemption only for the plant’s remaining operating life, subject to clear conditions that balance the protection of human health with a gradual and predictable shutdown of the ageing facility. Lukáš Hrábek of Greenpeace said it would have been even better if the authority had set the end of the exemption as the latest possible date on which the plant could operate.

The Počerady power plant belongs to Pavel Tykač’s Sev.en Česká energie group. Coal is transported by rail from the nearby Vršany mine. The owner has not yet reviewed the Regional Authority’s decision, Maříková told ČTK. “However, we are seeking to keep the Počerady power plant operating for as long as possible, also because the state still needs energy from coal-fired power plants. That is precisely why we applied for an emissions exemption: previous exemptions had been revoked, mostly on formal grounds, at the request of environmental groups,” she said. The non-governmental organisations, by contrast, say the plant is no longer needed at all to supply electricity.

Power plants and heating plants in Czechia produce around two tonnes of mercury emissions a year. Mercury is a neurotoxic poison. Mercury emissions in the air become dangerous when they accumulate in the environment, for example in water. Its molecules can then enter the human food chain, Jan Hovorka of Charles University’s Faculty of Science told ČTK in an interview last summer. Heating plants and power plants are the largest sources of mercury emissions into the air, he said.