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State-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije plans to explore the possibility of using biomass to produce electricity in thermal power plants.
Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) is continuing to analyze solutions for replacing coal in its thermal power plants. So far it has examined waste, natural gas, and biomass from energy crops as options.
The company has launched a public call for an analysis of the availability and technological suitability of biomass in Serbia for use in its power plants.
EPS wants to analyze two options: the production and burning of biogas – biomethane, and the burning of biomass.
One option is to build a biogas pipeline network
The utility intends to look into several biogas technologies. It needs an assessment of biomass potential in Vojvodina, including energy crops, manure, organic waste, and an overview of the situation in the sector with data on existing, planned, and optimal potential facilities for biogas production.
EPS is interested in producing energy from biogas in a cogeneration facility or for the production of biomethane and its injection into natural gas pipelines.
The selected consultant would be tasked with assessing the necessary investment and operating costs for the consumption of biogas at the Novi Sad and Zrenjanin cogeneration plants for electricity production or biomethane production. The facilities now use natural gas.
The option includes a network of biogas pipelines to the two power plants that EPS operates.
The consultant should also analyze the impact of burning biomass on air quality
In the part covering direct combustion of biomass, EPS requires an analysis of available biomass for final use at the Kolubara and Morava coal power plants.
One option is the cultivation of energy crops in open pit coal mines to sustainably produce biomass, according to the public call.
The company also needs cases from neighboring countries where biomass is combusted for energy production and replacement of coal. The consultant will be tasked with examining emissions of pollutants into the air and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy crops, waste, natural gas
Of note, EPS earlier started analyzing options to replace coal in thermal power plants. In September 2021, the company launched a pilot project with United States–based company E3 International for the use of biomass from energy crops.
A few months later, it launched a study on potential conversion of TPP Morava from coal to natural gas.
In July 2022, EPS published a tender for project design for co-incineration of alternative fuels in coal power plants Nikola Tesla A and Kostolac B, including solid recovered fuel (SRF) from waste.
TPP Morava was part of most of the said plans. Together with the Kolubara facility, it is set to be the first that EPS will shut down. The company recently said it intends to switch them to a strategic reserve.
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