Serbia cancels construction of new coal power plant
May 27, 2021
Serbia appears to have finally committed to exiting coal.
Workers and miners at the Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla (TENT) and the Kolubara mine in central Serbia this week held a “warning protest” over a supposed letter in which the country’s ministry of mining and energy instructed the state-owned EPS power company (Elektroprivreda Srbije) to halt construction of the planned Kolubara B coal power plant.
Construction on the Kolubara B plant, an addition to the already existing lignite Kolubara plant, began in the 1980s but was halted in 1992. In 2012, the project was resurrected again when the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) briefly considered financing it. Then, in 2020, a preliminary agreement was signed with PowerChina but no permits have been issued yet.