Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said, ahead of the debate on the set of laws in the field of mining and energy in the parliament on April 15th, that this is a year of great changes and that thermal power plants in Serbia will be shut down in the coming decades.
Mihajlovic, as a guest on TV K1, said that in the field of environmental protection, it is not only about changing the consciousness of citizens, but also about changing the investment plan which should be based on the production of electricity and heat from renewable sources.
“We have to make a plan for how we will shut down thermal power plants in the coming decades. People must be aware that there will be no thermal power plant in twenty or 30 years, but we will produce everything, electricity and heat from renewable sources – meaning hydroelectric power plants, gas and solar power plants, then wind power plants, biomass and similar, because we no longer have money to pay for those shows,” said Mihajlovic.
When it comes to small hydroelectric power plants, the minister says that their construction in protected areas will be prohibited.
That means, she explains, that they will not be able to be built in all national parks, as well as in the areas of the first, second or third degree of protection, which is a large part of Serbia.
When asked what will happen to SHPPs that have already been built, Mihajlovic states that there are two possibilities, to work in the period for which they have a contract, which means a few more years, or for the state to close them before that with lawsuits.
“Not a large number of SHPPs have already been built,” said Mihajlovic, Politika reports.
