Energy transition is development opportunity for EPCG, entire Montenegro

The energy transition brought a serious challenge for the governments in the region, but it proved to be a great development opportunity for Montenegro, as it contributed to the launch of big investment projects even in the time of the energy crisis, according to headline speakers at the EPCG Net 2023 Energy Symposium.

Energy is life, so the way of life for our descendants depends on how we act today, according to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) Milutin Đukanović. “The energy crisis made everybody in any society assume a more serious approach to energy than how they viewed and planned it before that. We think what happened is good, and we have to work a lot and with commitment,” he pointed out.

Kicking off the two-day EPCG Net 2023 Energy Symposium in Budva, Montenegro, which was organized by the state-owned coal and power utility, the company official said the energy sector’s development depends on political stability. “If one screw comes loose, we will have big problems,” Đukanović stressed, pointing to the government, parliament and local authorities.

Decarbonization is doable only if countries in region work together

Đukanović was among the speakers last month at the Belgrade Energy Forum, as was the President of the Association of Energy Sector Specialists of Serbia Nikola Rajaković, who said at the opening of the event in Montenegro that the entire energy sector is facing serious challenges.

“I think that the decarbonization process, which we have entered to never look back, passed the tipping point. In the region as well… I think we have strength as a region, because focusing on individual parts is really impractical in energy,” Rajaković underscored.

Rovčanin: Investment of over EUR 700 million is underway for transition of Pljevlja coal industry

EPCG’s Chief Executive Officer Nikola Rovčanin highlighted the major ongoing projects such as the ecological reconstruction of the country’s only coal power plant – Pljevlja, worth EUR 73 million, and the introduction of district heating in the town of Pljevlja.

“At the very beginning of the energy crisis, we saw it as a big problem and challenge, in the light of the energy crisis. As time went by, we were definitely coming up with solutions and set forth a serious investment cycle. We realized it is a great development opportunity,” he stated.

In a matter of days, EPCG will sign a contract for its Gvozd wind farm with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Rovčanin noted. As for a just transition for Pljevlja, he said an investment of over EUR 700 million is being prepared for the site of the thermal power plant.

The government signed a memorandum of understanding in April on the transformation of the coal town’s economy with British company Chayton Capital and EPCG.