TPP Kolubara (photo: EPS)
Serbia’s power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije intends to suspend the Morava and Kolubara coal power plants and switch them to a strategic reserve. It would maintain them in operational condition until making the final decision on the purpose of the locations.
Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has launched a tender for project design for mothballing coal-fired thermal power plants Morava (125 MW) and Kolubara (271 MW) and for composing and submitting a request to determine the need for an assessment of the environmental impact of the suspension of the two facilities.
Last year, Morava generated 356 GWh, and Kolubara had an output of 225 GWh. Taken together, they accounted for just under 1.7% of EPS’s total power production.
According to the tender documentation, the units in Kolubara and Morava are to be put into a strategic reserve. They would be maintained in such a condition that would allow recommissioning in case of extraordinary circumstances in the power system.
The units must cease operation because they haven’t met the emissions standard under the European Union’s Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), the update reads.
Tender’s program task is to analyze the procedures for the long-term conservation of the two power plants
EPS explained that the purpose of is tender is to analyze the procedures for the long-term suspension of the two power plants.
Mothballing should preserve the facilities until a final decision is made on the future use of the sites, the statement adds.
Of note, the Draft Energy Sector Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia up to 2040 with Projections up to 2050, published in late July, reveals that the Kolubara facility would be taken off the grid by 2030. The Morava plant would be considered for placement in cold reserve or decommissioning.
EPS previously said it intended to convert Morava from coal to natural gas. Currently the company plans to install solar power plants in the vicinity of the two power plants.
Minimizing negative impacts on the local environment
The limited lifetime derogation period – opt-out mechanism, within which the two power plants operated, expired at the end of last year. EPS acknowledged that it should have shut them down as they failed to meet the emissions standard under the LCPD.
Proper planning for decommissioning the two thermal power plants is essential to minimize negative impacts on the local environment, businesses, electricity consumers, and taxpayers, the state-owned utility added.
The Energy Community Secretariat has initiated a dispute settlement procedure against Serbia for not closing Morava
The opt-out mechanism applied for five coal-fired power plants in the Western Balkans: Kolubara and Morava, Pljevlja in Montenegro and Kakanj and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The scheme was an alternative to compliance with the emission limits set by the LCPD. Morava has spent its optional 20,000 hours, but it kept working, so a year ago the Energy Community Secretariat initiated a dispute settlement procedure against Serbia for not closing the facility. It did the same for Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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