Balkan power plants ‘risk breaching IED limits’

7 April 2014, ENDS Europe

Five new lignite-fired power projects in the Balkans are likely to breach EU air emission limits unless these are taken into account in the planning process, warns CEE Bankwatch.

An analysis commissioned by the environmental group shows the plants planned in three EU accession countries – Serbia, Montengro and Bosnia and Herzegovina – risk exceeding limits set out in the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

Under the countries’ Energy Community treaty with the EU, new installations must comply with the Large Combustion Plant (LCP) directive and stricter IED emission limits will also apply from 2018.

The lawyers who conducted the analysis looked at the projects’ environmental impact assessments and their pollution permits.

They found that one of them, Kolubara B in Serbia, will be allowed to emit 2.5 times as much dust as permitted under the IED. This installation has been designated a Project of Energy Community Interest, putting it in line for investment incentives and advantageous regulatory conditions.

Another one, a 300MW facility that EFT Group is building at Stanari in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be allowed to emit up to twice as much SO2 and over three times as much NOx as is permitted under the IED, according to the analysis. A local NGO’s complaint to the Energy Community is being assessed.

An Energy Community official said it did not yet have an opinion on Bankwatch’s findings, which it was still analysing.

Apart from the Stanari plant, construction has not yet started on the other projects.

If IED compliance is not addressed, derogations are likely to be sought for the plants and future upgrade costs will be passed on to consumers, CEE Bankwatch said.