Europe’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide is set to get even bigger next year, likely cementing its place in the ‘dirty 30’ polluters list.

According to the Guardian, Poland’s Elektrownia Belchatow coal power station will grow by 20% between 2008 and 2010.

Figures released earlier this year by the European Commission put Belchatow at the top of the list of carbon emissions from a single source, putting out the equivalent of 30.9 million tons of carbon dioxide a year in 2008. Those preliminary figures have now been confirmed. Reuters has a table of the data on the top 30 emitters, showing German facilities once again dominate the so-called ‘Dirty Thirty’, a term coined by the WWF.

Earlier this year Krzysztof Domagala, the Belchatow plant’s chief executive officer, told Bloomberg, “We will need to buy permits for 10 million tons of carbon dioxide within the next five years.”

One small ray of light: the European Commission has a carbon capture and storage project at Belchatow on its list of projects eligible for energy investments.

Image: by placidcasual/Ian under creative commons via Flickr.