By abandoning the construction of the II block of the Thermal Power Plant, Montenegro became the first country in the Western Balkans to abandon further investment in coal.
This was announced by the non-governmental organization Eco Team, after Montenegrin Prime Minister Duško Marković stated a few days ago that Montenegro abandoned the construction of Block II of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant for environmental reasons.
"Since losing its main source of funding in October 2016, the project to build the second unit of the Thermoelectric Power Plant has become uncertain. At the end of 2018, the Government and EPCG terminated the contract with the Czech company Škoda Praha on the construction of the power plant, and the project is becoming even less certain. However , until now the Government did not want to write off the project completely and instead, projects on a biomass thermal power plant and other alternative solutions were proposed", according to the statement of the Eco-team signed by Diana Milev Čavor.
He believes that the plans for the reconstruction and ecological rehabilitation of the first block of the thermal power plant are contradictory to the policy of sustainable development, which the Government advocates despite abandoning the construction of the second block of the Thermal Power Plant.
She reminds that the main reason for abandoning the construction of the second block was the state's determination to preserve the environment and achieve the goals of sustainable development.
"Nevertheless, the abandonment of Block II of the Thermal Power Plant after the decision on the environmental rehabilitation of the first block was certain, first of all due to insufficient coal supplies, and then for other reasons such as the reality of the simultaneous operation of both blocks as well as the sometimes mentioned options of shorter operation of Block I during the year. This is because it is clear that the operation of two blocks with a total nominal power of 460 megawatts in the small Montenegrin power system would be difficult to implement, especially considering all the new sources that have been built in recent years, are being implemented or are planned. Longer operation with reduced power would also be out of the question, as this significantly increases the production price of electricity. "The parallel operation of both blocks would necessarily be accompanied by problems in the operation of the Coal Mine due to the need to double production, which would require, among other things, significant investments," claims Čavor.
He reminds that the whole of Europe is in the phase of energy transition, and the EU's decision to decarbonize as soon as possible is primarily due to economic and not environmental reasons.
"Their policy is to finance the most profitable projects, and renewable energy sources are now simply cheaper than coal. Therefore, it remains to be seen how profitable the operation of the Pljevlja I Thermal Power Plant will be and whether the expected life of the thermal power plant of at least 20 years will achieve positive economic results, which is why there is a justified concern, especially due to the significant increase in CO2 prices during 2018 and 2019. The current price of CO2 emissions reached a value of 27,56 euros per ton of CO2. Such an explosive growth in the prices of emission units in 2018 and 2019 has led to the fact that practically none of the companies dealing with the trading aspects of CO2 emissions dare to give estimates of further price movements, especially not in the long term. What is important now for both Montenegro and the countries of the region is setting ambitious goals (2030 goals) and acting in accordance with them. These actions will show us whether we are aware of the huge opportunity for development through the inevitable energy transition, or whether this effort will be interpreted only as a request from the EU", says Čavor.
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