Greece to start shutting down coal power plants
A business plan being drafted by the management of majority state-owned Public Power Corporation (PPC) includes a “sweeping divestment” of its coal power plants in Greece, Ekathimerini writes. The plan to start shutting down PPC’s coal-fired power plants, which is expected to be ready by mid-November, is meant to be factored into the structural changes […]
Plovdiv, Vidin municipalities sign projects to reduce air pollution from heating
Contracts have been signed on projects for Bulgaria’s municipalities of Plovdiv and Vidin to improve air quality by reducing fine particulate matter (PM10) emissions from solid fuel heating. The implementation of the projects to reduce air pollution from heating will contribute to air quality improvement for approximately 345,000 residents of the Plovdiv municipality and 52,000 […]
IMF calls for raising electricity tariffs in Serbia
Electricity tariffs in Serbia have not changed in two years and should be raised, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Belgrade Sebastian Sosa has told a news conference, local media reported. Electricity tariffs in Serbia should at least be adjusted for inflation, Sosa said, also noting that the country will have to transition to […]
Republika Srpska to adopt new renewables incentive schemes by end-2019
Republika Srpska plans to introduce auctions for the construction of hydropower and solar power plants, as well as to continue using its power generation resources, including small and large hydropower plants and lignite-fired power plants. In an interview with Balkan Green Energy News, Petar Đokić, Minister of Energy and Mining of Republika Srpska, says that […]
Independent report: Air pollution caused 136 premature deaths in Tuzla in 2018
Air pollution in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was twice the legal limit on two thirds of monitored days in 2018 and caused over one hundred premature deaths in adults during the year, according to independent new data published today in the report Lifting the Smog by CEE Bankwatch Network, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) […]
Turkey touts ambitious renewable energy plans as it awards 1 GW of wind capacity
Turkey aims to increase the share of the domestic and renewable energy sources in the country’s electricity production to two-thirds by 2023, said Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said at a recently held G20 ministerial meeting in Japan. “Last month another wind auction for 1 gigawatt capacity was also successfully completed,” Donmez […]
BiH, Kosovo*, Serbia pay EUR 444 million in coal subsidies, EUR 147 million for renewables – report
The three most coal-intensive Energy Community (EnC) Contracting Parties – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, and Serbia – paid a total of EUR 444 million in direct subsidies to coal, while their incentives for production from renewables reached EUR 147 million during the period 2015-2017. The total sum of direct subsidies in all Contracting Parties, including […]
Nearly 200 families hit by pollution from Veliki Crljeni open-pit coal mine
Residents of Veliki Crljeni, a suburban settlement only 50 kilometers from the center of Belgrade, again wrote to the Serbian President and the Prime Minister over the past week, demanding that institutions and the state, the owner of power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), resolve the pollution problem that has been plaguing them for more than […]