Resilient Energy

How a thermal power plant did everything possible to keep COVID-19 on the other side of its portal in 2020?

Extraordinary circumstances require creativity and resilience. Probably more than once each of us has faced an insurmountable difficulty that has mobilized us to seek creative solutions and make great efforts to overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic put the whole of society, including most businesses, to such a test. The challenge is especially important for everyone on the front line, as well as for those who take care that the critical infrastructure operates - so that there is electricity and work communications.

When the epidemic broke out in early 2020, the international energy company ContourGlobal completely reorganized its work with the specific goal of preserving its most valuable capital - the people. The company produces electricity in 20 countries on three continents and has nearly 1,500 employees. One third of them work in Bulgaria, at "ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3" TPP near Galabovo, Stara Zagora region and in the office in Sofia. With its 908 MW the power plant is among the key generating capacities in the country, and its stable operation is a guarantee for the security of our electricity system.

In the period from January to the end of November 2020, ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 TPP provided almost 11% of the electricity produced in the country.

How does the company solve the problem of safety in a pandemic?

The fight against COVID-19 begins outside the thermal power plant's entrance barrier. The bus transportation, which usually transports the employees to the TPP and back every day, is replaced by a car-based one with additional measures to minimize the risks, and the thermal...