The Serbian parliament will on Monday vote on the ratification of a USD 608 million loan agreement from the China ExIm Bank for the construction of the 350 MW Kostolac B3 lignite power plant by Chinese company CMEC.
Serbia's latest addition to its huge debt burden is being presented as a great success, but a new lignite plant is more likely to end up as a weight around our necks as we move towards the EU and apply EU climate policies.
It is not easy to find anywhere in Europe as much determination as in Poland for building new coal. The only place to find a similar coal enthusiasm is at the door step of Europe, in the Balkans, looking set to be fuelled by Chinese money. But even there the future of coal is shaky.
Concerns mount about increasing threats to Macedonia's protected areas and the Lake Ohrid UNESCO site by EBRD investments in fast-tracked infrastructure projects.
Bosnia and Herzegovina NGO Ekotim has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism in relation to an addendum to the environmental permit for the planned 300 MW Banovici lignite power plant near Tuzla.
As you're gearing up for the festive season, spare a thought for the long-suffering folks in Pljevlja, Montenegro, and Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are fighting against serious pollution of air soil, and water.
Belgrade/Banja Luka/Sarajevo, 16 December 2014: As the third annual summit of Chinese and Central and Eastern European leaders gets underway today in Belgrade, problems are mounting for the lignite projects planned in the Balkan region. Today alone, an official complaint has been submitted to the Energy Community Secretariat on the planned 600 MW Ugljevik III lignite power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a new analysis has been published showing that the planned 450 MW Tuzla 7 lignite plant – also in Bosnia and Herzegovina – is likely to be economically unviable.
In the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, approximately 150 km east of Banja Luka, Comsar Energy Republika Srpska (CERS) is planning to build the 2x300 MW Ugljevik 3 lignite fired power plant. This complaint outlines aspects of the Energy Community law that the plant would breach if constructed.
The public company Elektroprivreda BiH is developing a project for the construction of unit 7 at the Tuzla lignite-fired power plant. The key financial indicators presented in JP Elektroprivrede BiH's document have been derived in an unclear manner, but even with these figures it is clear that the project is poorly grounded. This creates potential threats to Bosnia and Herzegovina's public budget since the project will likely receive state support.
Skopje/ Strasbourg – The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, a binding international legal instrument in the field of nature conservation for signatory countries, announced today (pdf) that it will open a case file to address the complaint made by Eko-svest about the planned hydropower plants in Mavrovo national park.
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