New Kosovo power plant – an expensive and outdated anomaly in a decarbonising world
June 19, 2018
After years of delay, the New Kosovo lignite power plant took a step forward in 2017 with the signing of commercial contracts. However, numerous old issues, including carbon emissions, resettlement, and the dubious single-bidder procurement process, ha …
How can the EBRD maximise its leverage to bring about decarbonisation?
June 19, 2018
The economic viability of coal is ever decreasing. Without public financial support many coal investments are doomed to fail. Yet several institutions are still willing to finance an energy source that wrecks our climate, damages our health and wastes …
Bulgarian authorities, forced to think about Just Transition
June 15, 2018
The closure of the largest underground mine in Bulgaria, Bobov Dol in the southwest of the country, means Bulgarian authorities are finally forced to think about Just Transition.
The European Commission’s platform for coal regions in transition: case studies highlight tilt toward coal companies
June 5, 2018
Without adhering to the partnership principle, the Platform for Coal Regions in Transition risks benefiting coal companies at the expense of local communities, in blatant contradiction to its stated goal. In Poland and Slovakia, lack of transparency an …
The energy sector in Romania
May 18, 2018
Romania’s electricity mix is one of the most balanced in the European Union, with coal, hydropower, natural gas, nuclear energy and wind power having comparable shares of capacity and power generation. With the exception of wind and solar, almost all u …
China, the Western Balkans and the EU: Can three tango?
May 17, 2018
With China pouring loans into the Western Balkans, the EU must step in to ensure this money benefits the region, writes Wawa Wang.
Rovinari unit 7, Romania
May 16, 2018
The Romanian Government has been negotiating for several years with the Chinese Government to build a new 600 MW unit at the lignite power plant in Rovinari, Gorj County. The new unit would be built on the site of Units 1 and 2, currently decommissioned. A new up and running plant would pollute the whole region for at least 40 more years, a coal plant’s average lifespan.
Chinese-financed coal projects in Southeast Europe
May 15, 2018
Several EU enlargement countries in the Western Balkans – as well as EU member states Romania and Greece – plan to build new lignite power plants. In contrast, the EU aims to decarbonise its energy sector by 2050, most EU countries no longer build new …
Gacko II, Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 15, 2018
State-owned utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, together with China Machinery and Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and Emerging Markets Power Fund, plans to build a new 350 MW lignite power plant in Gacko, near the town’s existing plant, and in December 2017 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to move the project forward.
Kamengrad lignite power plant, Bosnia-Herzegovina
May 15, 2018
An idea to build a power plant at the open-cast Kamengrad coal mine near Sanski Most in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been around for years, but in 2017 it took a step forward with the November signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Energy China International and the Bosnia-Herzegovina construction supplier Lager d.o.o. for a 2 X 215 MW plant.
