• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bankwatch

  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Who we are
    • 30 years of Bankwatch
    • Donors & finances
    • Get involved
  • What we do
    • Campaign areas
      • Beyond fossil fuels
      • Rights, democracy and development
      • Finance and biodiversity
      • Funding the energy transformation
      • Cities for People
    • Institutions we monitor
      • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
      • European Investment Bank
      • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
      • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
      • EU funds
    • Our projects
    • Success stories
  • Publications
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press releases
    • Stories
    • Podcast
    • Us in the media
    • Videos

Home > Projects > Stanari lignite power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stanari lignite power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina

EFT’s 300 MW Stanari power plant, constructed by China’s Dongfang, and financed by the China Development Bank, is located near Doboj in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the Republika Srpska part of the country.

The construction site of the Stanari coal power plant.
Stanari power plant under construction in early 2014

Stay informed

We closely follow international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground.





Background

Originally Stanari was planned to be a 420 MW plant but this was considered to be on the edge of economic viability and the capacity was reduced to 300 MW.

The plant officially started commercial operations in September 2016, but was already out of date in terms of environmental standards. Its environmental permit stipulates compliance only with the older EU Large Combustion Plants (LCP) Directive, not with the newer Industrial Emissions Directive. 

During the project’s development a number of problems were raised, including the following: 

No environmental impact assessment for the changed project

The environmental impact assessment process was carried out only for the original, larger version of the project and the Republika Srpska authorities did not require a new process for the new, smaller plant. 

While it may appear that a smaller plant has a smaller environmental impact and therefore does not need a new study, several other changes were involved that could alter the situation: 

  • The project was originally planned to have a net thermal efficiency of 43 percent but the new version is down to 34.1 per cent. 
  • It was changed from supercritical pulverised lignite technology to subcritical circulating fluidised bed combustion. 
  • The cooling technology has also been changed from a wet to a dry cooling system. This is one of the main reasons for the loss of thermal efficiency. 

Al Jazeera’s Dragan Stanimirović reports, the Stanari project is causing mixed reactions from local residents and concern to environmental groups about health impacts and CO2 emissions.

(Not available in English)

Environmental permit not compliant with pollution standards

Since 2006, Bosnia-Herzegovina has been a party to the Energy Community Treaty, which requires all members to abide by certain EU legislation in the energy sector. 

This meant that while developing the Stanari project, Bosnia-Herzegovina was obliged to adhere to the EU Large Combustion Plants Directive, which regulates emissions limit values from power plants. Originally, the Republika Srpska authorities did not include the emissions limit values from the LCP Directive in Stanari’s environmental permit, but rather much laxer standards from domestic legislation with emissions 2-3 times higher. 

In January 2014, an official complaint was submitted to the Energy Community Secretariat by the Center for Environment from Banja Luka and in July 2015 it was announced that the Stanari environmental permit would be updated following changes in the Republika Srpska legislation.  Nevertheless, this still puts Stanari several years behind EU legislation. 

Latest news

Ecologists warn that Residents around Stanari coal-fired Power Plant are regularly affected by Pollution from different Directions

Bankwatch in the media | 18 September, 2019

The Stanari coal-fired power plant, which started operating in September 2016, its ash disposal site, and the already-existing open-cast lignite mine have formed a curve around the north and east of the village.

Read more

Alarmantna zagađenost vazduha štetnom prašinom u Stanarima

Bankwatch in the media | 17 September, 2019

Alarmantna zagađenost vazduha štetnom prašinom u Stanarima

Read more

Stanovnici Stanara se guše: Enormna zagađenost zraka

Bankwatch in the media | 17 September, 2019

U Stanarima postoje alarmantne satne vrijednosti štetnih čestica prašine u zraku – pokazali su nezavisna mjerenja kvaliteta zraka, navodi se u izvještaju organizacije CEE Bankwatch koji je urađen u saradnji sa Centrom za životnu sredinu

Read more

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • ...
  • 9
Next Page »

Related publications

Where will all that power go? New study assesses extravagant energy ambitions in the western Balkans

Bankwatch Mail | 14 May, 2015 |

Western Balkan countries have ambitious plans to increase their electricity generation over the next years. But what will happen if they all become a regional energy hub? Will there be a demand for all the available electricity?


Stranded assets in the Western Balkans – report on the long-term economic viability of new export capacities

Study | 19 March, 2015 | Download PDF

Country chapters available for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia. For other languages, see here. Analysing the estimated energy demand and production capacities in Western Balkan countries, this study shows that if countries realise their planned capacity expansions, the region will have a 56 per cent electricity surplus in 2024, led by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Nearly all governments in the region aspire to become electricity exporters, but the study argues that if governments fail to take into account the regional perspective, they could end up with power plants becoming simply uneconomic to operate.


« Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
Next Page »

Footer

CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of CEE Bankwatch Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Unless otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 License

Your personal data collected on the website is governed by the present Privacy Policy.

Get in touch with us

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube