Minister to seek changes to nature protection law over small hydropower plants
Serbian Minister of Environmental Protection Goran Trivan has announced an initiative to change the country’s nature protection law to avert the construction of small hydropower plants (HPP) in protected areas, after his recent attempt to pull approval for the Pakleštica small HPP, threatening to hurt biodiversity in the Visočica river basin, was quashed by a […]
Tender launched for geothermal energy exploration in Croatia
The Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency has announced a public call for the selection of the best bid for geothermal energy exploration in the area of the city of Slatina, as well as in the municipalities of Sopje, Čađavica, Crnac, and Nova Bukovica in the Virovitičko-Podravska county, for the purpose of issuing an extraction license for energy […]
Serbia sees waste from commercial activities rise 3.3% in 2017
Waste generated from commercial activities in Serbia in 2017 increased 3.3% compared to the previous year, to 48.9 million metric tons, the Statistics Office has said in a news release. Of the total, 64.7% was non-hazardous waste and 35.3% hazardous waste. By activity, declines in waste generation were reported by agriculture, 6.3%, mining, 0.8%, water […]
EU TSOs measures kick off amid fresh frequency deviations in CE power system
A new compensation programme, put in place by the Continental European TSOs, automatically kicked off on July 7 when the grid time deviation exceeded 60 seconds, ENTSO-E said in a statement, adding that the cause for the frequency deviations – a political dispute between the Serb and Kosovar authorities on electricity – has not been […]
Bids sought for three small hydropower plants
The Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining of Republika Srpska has launched tenders for concessions to build and operate three small hydropower plants. One invitation refers to two small hydropower plants (HPP) on the Bjelava river that would have a total installed capacity of 2.523 MW and an annual output of 10.19 GWh of electricity. […]
Returns on green investments are down, but so are costs
On the sidelines of the Green for Growth Fund’s (GGF) recently held Sustainable Future Forum and the grand finale of the clim@ pitching competition for startups, Christopher Knowles, who at the time served as chairman of the GGF, spoke to Balkan Green Energy News about the impact of innovative solutions, return on green investments, and […]
China’s Belt and Road in Balkan coal dead end & why the EU should care
Author: Igor Kalaba, Energy Policy Coordinator for South East Europe, CAN Europe Governments in the Western Balkans have developed a liking for taking out Chinese loans to buy new Chinese coal plants in order to burn Balkan coal. These loans are presented to the public as investments although both China and Balkan governments know that […]
HSE shuts down another obsolete unit of coal-fired Šoštanj power plant
Slovenian state energy company Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE) has shut down another environmentally and technologically outdated unit of the country’s largest coal-fired energy facility, the Šoštanj thermal power plant (TPP). The most recently closed unit of TPP Šoštanj, the 275 MW Unit 4, reached the end of its life after 46 years of operation, according […]