By 2030, coal consumption in the European Union should fall by 70 percent compared to 2015, and oil by 30 percent. At the same time, the share of renewable sources in energy production in the EU would more than double from today’s 32 percent, the European Commission concluded at a recent summit in Brussels, which aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent.
At the same time, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that our country would be a low-carbon society by 2050, which should mean a 13.2 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2010. The goal is to improve air quality.
Where is Serbia at this hour, which received more than 70 percent of its electricity from lignite, whose individual heating plants still consume fuel oil with a high percentage of sulfur? With the price of electricity that is below the production price, can we talk about supplying households from renewable energy sources, which is certainly more expensive than the one sold to us by EPS, which every citizen now pays through the electricity bill?
Dr. Slobodan Ruzic, former Assistant Minister of Energy, says for Politika that every developed country uses all the energy resources at its disposal. Coal is our most important resource and together with hydropower, it gives this country the necessary level of security. Without coal and hydropower, we would have been an energy-dependent country for a long time. What needs to be done is to get rid of the use of old and inefficient thermal units and replace them with modern energy efficient ones with higher installed power. This can increase efficiency in electricity generation by at least 10 percent and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
– Coal and renewable energy sources are not opponents. It is only necessary for thermal power plants to be modernized and to use coal in the most environmentally responsible way possible. Every kilowatt-hour produced from a renewable source means 1.8 kilograms less carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from Obrenovac or Kostolac. It is very significant to reduce the amount of nitrogen and sulfur oxides, as well as heavy metals that go into the ground and water through ashtrays. It is inhumane and unfair to those who live in Obrenovac and Kostolac that in other parts of the country, here I mean primarily Pirot and its surroundings, not even the few resources for electricity production that exist there are used, but are expected to always get it from Obrenovac and Kostolac – Ruzic is categorical.
According to the information of the Global Coal Plent Tracker, as many as 27 coal-fired power plants are being built in the EU, so the question arises as to why Serbia is considered to be consuming lignite for electricity production.
Mr. Zeljko Markovic, leader for the energy sector at Deloitte, former director of EPS, says that the construction of coal-fired power plants is not banned in the EU, so the issue of their construction is actually a matter of cost-effectiveness, bearing in mind that the price of electricity products from thermal power plants burdened with emission taxes.
– As it is not in the EU, Serbia has no obligation to participate in the emissions trading system, but since we are on the way to joining the EU, at the time of full membership we will have to participate in this system, which would currently raise the prices of coal electricity, three eurocents per kilowatt-hour.
Serbia, as a contracting party in the Energy Community, has an obligation to meet certain conditions regarding thermal power plants regarding permitted emissions of harmful gases from thermal power plants – says our interlocutor.
The regulation stipulates that only capacities whose emissions are lower than 550 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour are acceptable, and from July 2025 there will be an additional condition that average annual emissions are less than 350 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilowatt of installed power. Bearing in mind that the current emission of thermal power plants in Serbia is 1,200 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour, we see that the requirements for acceptable capacities are extremely strict, which also means that in EU countries less and less is thought about investing in thermal power plants, explains Markovic.
After all, Serbia is currently building or will build two coal capacities in the near future, with a total capacity of 700 megawatts, which will be technologically harmonized with the current EU legislation regarding emissions.
Price of electricity and fossil fuels
The Ministry of Energy emphasizes that the price of electricity is much higher when it is produced from fossil fuels, due to the costs of environmental protection, and it also has a negative impact on the environment and human health. Additionally, it is possible that countries that continue to produce electricity from coal will also face taxes estimated at hundreds of millions of euros. Then the question arises whether it is better to turn to energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and gas power plants or pay at least half a billion euros, and not have the positive effects that these investments bring. Unfortunately, these investments are far greater than the investments and allocations for green energy, and they are necessary. Our investments in air purification by 2030 will be almost 1.3 billion euros, and in the current projects, around 650 million euros, Politika reports.
