The total emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired thermal power plants in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia in 2018 were as much as six times higher than allowed, according to the results of the analysis published today by the CEE Bankwatch network.
According to the results of the analysis carried out by the NGO Eco Team at the level of thermal power plants, the biggest polluter is Kostolac B in Serbia, whose emissions are SO2 were 14 times higher (113.913 tons) than allowed for that plant.
"The thermal power plant Kostolac B itself emitted more sulfur dioxide than is allowed for the entire region despite the fact that it is the only thermal power plant in the region that has a new desulphurization plant - put into operation back in July 2017. The Chinese company CMEC (eng. China Machinery and Engineering Corporation), which installed the plant, is also currently building the new unit Kostolac B3. It remains unclear what went wrong with the desulphurization investment for Kostolac B, but it serves as a warning for the Pljevlja TPP environmental reconstruction project, which should be carried out by Dongfang from China. Recently, a new analysis called into question the economic justification of the reconstruction of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant, and the situation in Kostolac B creates fear and doubt about the technical efficiency of the equipment that will be installed," the EKO team said in a statement.
The NGO reminds that all countries of the Western Balkans, as members of the Energy Community, had the obligation to reduce pollution from thermal power plants by 2018 in accordance with the Directive on large combustion plants.
"None of the countries complied with their total emission limit values in 2018. In Montenegro, the Pljevlja TPP produced 2018 tons of sulfur dioxide in 64.475, which is more pollution than some larger plants such as the Bitolj TPP or the Tuzla TPP. Value of NO emissionsx from TE Pljevlja during 2018 of 7.786 tons was among the highest in the region and almost equal to the value of emissions from TE Kostolac B, although it is more than three times higher than TE Pljevlje. According to the latest Implementation Report of the Energy Community, if Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant continues to operate at the same level as in 2018, it will have to be shut down already next year, unless technical upgrading measures are taken to comply with the strict emission limit values of the Industrial Emissions Directive. emissions. The countries of the Energy Community had as much as 12 years to comply with the limit values from the Directive on large combustion plants, so the fact that the authorities from the region have neglected this problem is incomprehensible and reprehensible. Considering the health damage caused by air pollution, investments in reducing emissions or closing the thermal power plant are not only a matter of legal, but also moral obligations", states the statement of the NGO Eco-team signed by Diana MIlev Čavor.
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