The Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant will cease electricity production at midnight tonight and will be out of operation for seven and a half months, due to final works on ecological reconstruction.
This was stated by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, Milutin Đukanović, at a press conference held at the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant.
"Tonight at midnight, the Pljevlja thermal power plant will cease operations and the final phase of ecological reconstruction will begin actively. If everything goes well, the thermal power plant should start operating again on November 24th," said Đukanović.
He stated that the ecological reconstruction of the TPP will cost 75 million euros.
"I would not separate the relocation of the Ćehotina River from that, which will cost Rudnik Uglja 25 million euros. So the reconstruction plus the relocation of Ćehotina is one hundred million euros. Not to mention that EPCG will have to allocate almost 70 million euros to purchase the missing electricity," said Đukanović.
He pointed out that the benefits of the project will be evident in the coming period "regardless of all the difficulties and large investments on all grounds" and EPCG and the Coal Mine will be ready to achieve extraordinary results in 2026 and the following years.
He expressed dissatisfaction with how these processes were handled until 2021.
"We are the only energy company in the world that has not increased the price of electricity. Despite all the difficulties, the electricity system will function stably in the coming period. Workers have no reason to worry about the payment of salaries. We have found a model for how to overcome this in the most effective way," said Đukanović.
He said that "these weaknesses" can best be combated by building new energy facilities that will produce electricity.
"We are going to complete the ecological reconstruction, and Pljevlja will also benefit greatly from it. District heating is also planned, which was a fairy tale for a while. The coal mine has incredible projects that can serve as an example for other mines in the region," said Đukanović.
He said that EPCG will very soon make a decision that there will be no electricity increases for the next three months, but that they must take into account that electricity is a stock exchange commodity and how prices will move in June, July, and August.
"There is no increase for now, but there is always one caveat. I guess citizens have convinced themselves by now that EPCG takes care of their standard. We are the only energy company in the region that has not increased the price of electricity in the past 4 years. No one can firmly guarantee what the situation will be in the coming period," said Đukanović.
EPCG Executive Director Ivan Bulatović said that the final phase of the TPP ecological reconstruction project is being entered.
"This project is very challenging, complex and in itself carries certain uncertainties. This management has done a lot in the past year and a half to be ready to enter the final phase of implementation and we hope that the deadline of November 15th will be met. There is a possibility that this deadline can be shortened, and in the coming period we will have negotiations with the contractor and I think there is a serious chance that the deadline will be shortened by a month due to technical readiness," said Bulatović.
The goal of the project is a healthier environment and an extension of the lifespan, or rather, obtaining a permit for the Pljevlja TPP to operate for as long as possible.
"During the downtime, a completely stable electricity supply will be ensured. We have procured almost all the necessary quantities. There is still a smaller quantity left that will be procured on a monthly and daily basis and there are no concerns regarding the regular supply of electricity to citizens. The downtime of the TPP will not slow down the investment cycle in EPCG; on the contrary, we will embark on an even stronger implementation of solar projects, as well as the Gvozd wind farm, where we expect the first kilowatts by the end of this year. In this way, we will create an energy mix that should fully facilitate the exit from the energy transition," said Bulatović.
Miro Vračar, executive manager of the EPCG Production Functional Unit, said that in 2024, despite unfavorable hydrological conditions, they achieved 99 percent of the plan.
"I must especially highlight the first quarter and the lack of hydrological conditions until the last week, which put us in a position where we are below plan in the first quarter, but we are still satisfied with the hydrology. I must emphasize that by being below plan in production, we have certainly preserved our reservoirs. Which means that our reservoirs are above the planned value, we are even a hundred gigawatt hours above plan when it comes to reservoirs, and we achieved the plan for the first three months by 89 percent, which is 85 percent compared to production in the same period in 2023," said Vračar.
Technical Director of EPCG Ljubiša Đurković said that they "need the Pljevlja thermal power plant as a production facility."
"Do we need the amount of energy generated annually in the EPCG portfolio in such an amount? This is certainly something that is up for discussion. In the last few years, we have had about 45 percent of the energy generated from this plant in the new year. Is that at the level of the requirements of the green energy transition and energy transition? I think we definitely need the Pljevlja TPP. We are committed to creating conditions for the TPP to operate successfully in the years ahead, but we also have to be ready to compensate for part of the energy generated in the Pljevlja TPP in the future with energy from renewable sources. Accordingly, we are doing everything possible to implement as many projects as possible in the shortest possible period," said Đurković.
The recently elected director of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant, Žarko Ćaćić, said that the thermal power plant is fully ready to enter the final phase of ecological reconstruction.
Over 90 percent of the equipment for ecological reconstruction has been delivered and over 200 workers will be engaged in the project, 30 of which are engineers and technical support.
"In addition to the ecological reconstruction, the Pljevlja district heating project is being implemented in parallel. Work is underway on the first phase of the 2.300-meter-long heating pipeline. All necessary materials, including pipe systems, have already been delivered to the construction site. The work is progressing according to plan, and it is expected that the first phase will be completed within the planned deadline," said Ćačić.
He emphasized that during the shutdown, no TE worker will be denied any rights and that the collective agreement will be fully respected.
"The majority of production and maintenance workers will be actively involved in the planned overhaul works. Our goal is to have the largest volume of these works completed by the beginning of August, so that later planned training at the new facilities and redistribution of work tasks will ensure that all employees remain active and engaged in work," said Ćaćić, emphasizing that after the reconstruction, the Pljevlja TPP will become a modern facility that will meet all modern, technological, environmental and operational requirements.
"It is expected that harmful gas emissions will be reduced to a level in line with the strictest European standards, which will enable long-term and sustainable operation of the plant. This is an investment that has multiple benefits. Preserving jobs and employee safety, reducing pollution and protecting human health, and extending the life of the plant and complying with environmental standards," said Ćaćić.
Executive Director of the Coal Mine, Nemanja Laković, said that the project to relocate the Ćehotina River bed is of vital importance for the functioning of the company and the TPP.
He said that Rudnik carried out part of the work itself, and that a tender had been issued for the rest of the work, on the Durutovići dam and the installation of geofilm and riverbed lining.
"The tender procedure is underway. We have an appeal against the tender, we hope that the commission will quickly decide on the appeal and that we will get a contractor very soon. We also have alternatives ready. We will create some coal reserves for the TPP in case the procedures I talked about are prolonged, but we hope that we will complete the Ćehotina relocation project on time," said Laković.
He pointed out that 2024 was a record year in production and profits.
"This has enabled us to accumulate some funds that we will use in the coming year. We have signed a four-year coal delivery contract with EPCG, which allows us to withdraw part of the funds in advance, which we will level out over the next three years," said Laković.
He also said that the significance of the Rudnik uglja and TPP Pljevlja systems would be seen in the downtime.
"According to some projections we made at market prices, this complex has produced electricity worth 840 million euros in the past five years," said Laković.
EPCG Executive Director Ivan Bulatović confirmed that the tenant of the Nikšić Steel Plant has two monthly rent obligations and that in that regard they have a certain disregard for the contract concluded with the tenant.
"We are not suffering a single cent of damage. We have high expectations in terms of restarting steel production, which would be significant for the long-term survival of the factory. For this reason, we are a little flexible on this issue, but we are certainly aware that the clauses in the contract must be respected and in this sense we have sent a warning letter to the tenant to settle the obligation for last year by the end of this month. We expect that he will do so and then the preconditions for further implementation under this contract would be created. What is in dispute is the long registration of the company in Montenegro from which the lease payments would be made. According to the latest information we have from the tenant, it should be resolved in the next ten days and that the preconditions for payment under the contract will be created," said Bulatović, adding that "workers will move to him in accordance with the tenant's needs and be part of the driving force for starting production."
"Workers currently have enough work. Of course, we are flexible, so we give them a chance. It is easy to terminate. When we have no costs, we want to express goodwill," added Đukanović.
When asked by Vijesti how he would comment on the claims of economic analyst Dejan Mijović that the ecological reconstruction project is economically unprofitable, Đukanović did not respond precisely.
"We think that in 2020, when the first contract on ecological reconstruction was concluded, and immediately after that, a 10 million euro advance was given to a company close to Milo Đukanović. A new contract was already drawn up in October. When we arrived in March 2021, we could not go back, because the contracts were concluded. We thought about many options, but simply the previous management signed the contracts and we, as successors, had to respect that. We had strong recommendations from the European Energy Community to carry out ecological reconstruction and we approached it. It was not easy to bring it to the day today that we are fully in agreement. We are stopping work, and the final phase of ecological reconstruction begins immediately. We have come to a situation where we had no choice. We could have a debate on how we should have behaved until 2021. Failure to comply with the EC recommendations given in 2016 on how to behave from January 1, 2018 means only four months, until December 31, 2023. "It's because of the TPP. They should be asked why they didn't switch to such an operating mode," said Đukanović.
Vračar said that they will try to cover the ash and slag dump at Maljevac with clay and a water mirror while the shutdown lasts.
He said that in the future, TPP by-products will be disposed of in a solid state and not, as before, in pipelines mixed with water.
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