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There are alternatives to electricity from coal in Serbia

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The Electric Power Industry of Serbia and the Chinese company Power China previously signed a preliminary agreement on cooperation in the construction of TPP “Kolubara B”, and the estimated value of that investment was around 385 million euros.

The topic of the continuation of the construction of TPP “Kolubara B”, which started 35 years ago and which has been terminated in the meantime, came into the public spotlight again after the meeting of the Trade Union “Mining Basin Kolubara” held in protest that project.

The management of that union believes that Zorana Mihajlović, the minister at the head of that department, not only wants to give up the construction of TPP “Kolubara B”, but also to advocate the abolition of all thermal units for electricity production in Serbia by 2030 at the latest. which she categorically denies.

The director of the company “Energia gas and power”, Velimir Gavrilović, says for Danas that in the specific case, the Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlović, is right, and not those who are in favor of the construction of the new Thermal Power Plant “Kolubara B”.

– What should be emphasized is that this is primarily an intra-party showdown within the Serbian Progressive Party. So in the background of the case is a purely political story that was transferred to the field of energy. When viewed from the point of view of the profession, the idea of ​​building a new thermal plant for the production of electricity, ie “Kolubara B”, is completely irrational. Why would Serbia build a thermal power plant at a time when many countries are giving up thermal capacity as major polluters. It is known what Europe is asking of Serbia on that issue, that is, to suggest the abolition of such production plants, and therefore it would be wasted money. They would have a thermal power plant that pollutes the environment, but it will still have to be shut down at some point, like all other thermal units – our interlocutor explains.

According to him, gas power plants are an alternative, that is, a far more cost-effective solution than the construction of TPP “Kolubara B”.

– These are plants that cause much less damage to the environment than the thermal power plant. Both electricity and heat could be produced from such plants. There would be no surface mines, the bulky machinery that exists on them, and there would be no coal that harms human health. Accordingly, it is more rational to think in that direction than to build a new thermal plant. It would be more useful for the Electric Power Industry of Serbia to turn to investing in renewable energy sources. What EPS would not build its own wind farm and solar panels. All that is better than the formation of new thermal capacities which are big polluters – Gavrilović thinks.

Vojislav Vuletić, Secretary General of the Gas Association of Serbia, agrees that it is necessary to build gas power plants in Serbia, but at the same time he expresses the position that thermal capacity should not be given up.

– The essence is that EPS should be enabled to implement what was previously foreseen in the plans of that company. In that sense, it is necessary and useful to build gas power plants as plants from which electricity and heat are obtained. However, at the same time, thermal capacities should be built so that the “Kolubara B” project should not be given up at all – Vuletić concludes.

Source: danas.rs

 

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