Southeast Europe Energy Policy Officer
Email: pippa.gallop AT bankwatch.orgTel.: +385 99 755 97 87
Pippa works as Bankwatch Southeast Europe energy advisor, with a specialisation in coal and hydropower in the Western Balkans. She is based in Zagreb, Croatia and speaks English, Croatian and rusty German.
More from Pippa Gallop
Montenegrin power plant feasible only with creative accounting
August 1, 2016 | Read more
Just as everyone else was going on holiday, on Friday night the Montenegrin parliament approved two decisions laying the ground for the controversial Pljevlja II lignite power plant. But a look at the project documentation released by the government shows that the project’s economics only add up with some giant leaps of faith.
Last year in the EU, 12.8 GW of wind power capacity was installed – more than any other electricity generation source. This means that wind can now generate 11.4% of the EU electricity consumption in a normal wind year, according to Wind Europe. At the same time Belgium and Scotland have shut down their last coal plants, signalling the golden days of coal are far behind them.
In spite of an updated construction contract for a new unit at the Tuzla coal-fired power plant, the project’s economic feasibility remains a puzzle with missing pieces.
The Zagreb wastewater plant public-private partnership (PPP), financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has for years been highlighted by Bankwatch and its member group Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia as a harmful project allowing the private sector enormous profits at the expense of the City of Zagreb and the public.
A United Nations study finds that public-private partnerships involve substantial risks for the public sector and have often failed to yield ‘value for money’.
