The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic, stated on December 20 that the energy situation in Serbia is stabilizing, as well as that the capacities of energy production in thermal power plants have been increased, the Ministry of Mining and Energy announced.
Mihajlovic said that at the session of the Working Group for Monitoring the Security of Energy and Energy Supply, at which the latest data on the state of the electric power system in Serbia were presented.
The session was held eight days after the power system collapsed, due to a delay in the work of the Thermal Power Plant “Nikola Tesla” (TENT) near Obrenovac.
It was announced at the session that the capacities of energy production in the Thermal Power Plant “Nikola Tesla” have been increased and all eight blocks are in the system. Also, in TPP “Kostolac”, all units function without interruption.
“The condition of the transmission system works without problems, with ongoing maintenance. The situation in the distribution system is normalized,” it is stated in the announcement of the Ministry of Mining and Energy.
The Ministry also stated that for now there are no major breakdowns in the work of Belgrade Power Plants and Heating Plants in Serbia, and that a sufficient amount of energy has been provided for the smooth functioning of district heating until the end of the winter season.
The report on the work of the operational team for determining the factual situation regarding the reserves and quality of coal in the Public Company Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) was also presented at the session, the ministry announced.
The necessary additional quantities of energy and plans for the period until the end of the year and until the end of the winter season and plans for supplying the market with fuel oil were also discussed.
On December 19, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited the Kostolac Thermal Power Plant and said that it was almost impossible for the energy sector to be surprised by major breakdowns and estimated that the winter would pass without major problems, and that Serbian citizens would feel almost nothing due to the energy crisis.
More than 136,000 people and over 2,200 transformer stations were left without electricity on December 12, after six blocks of TENT, eight of them, fell out. According to state officials, in the furnace of TENT, the largest power plant in Serbia, on the night between December 11 and 12, coal of poor quality was thrown in, as if there was mud in it.
EPS announced that heavy snowfalls, wind and primarily extremely wet snow that was freezing caused problems in the delivery of coal.
TENT is managed by Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the most important public company in energy management in the country.
Although the situation is slowly normalizing, Serbia is forced to import “enormous” amounts of electricity.
At the session of the Government on December 14, the President of Serbia said that those responsible for the energy collapse must bear the consequences. Addressing the leader of EPS, Milorad Grčić, he said that he hoped that they understood each other well when it comes to personal and any other responsibility.
After that, Grčić made a decision to dismiss four directors responsible for coal and electricity production. He himself has not yet offered his resignation. In an interview with Pink TV on December 17, Vučić said that it could be considered that the director of EPS had already resigned, Slobodna Evropa reports.
