EPS employee and general secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Dragoslav Ljubičić, received a new warning before his dismissal, officially due to postings on the X network, and unofficially, as he claims, after a conversation with "Vreme" about the import of coal and the business of EPS
Domestic coal must be mixed with imported coal in order to prevent a new breakdown in thermal power plants. Serbia paid one billion euros for that in four years. Why and from where does Serbia import the most coal?
A plan to phase out oil, coal and gas is being discussed at the COP30 climate conference in Brazil. Yet billions continue to flow into the fossil fuel industry, and emissions continue to rise. Will that change now?
The use of coal is not expedient when there are technically and economically better options in the form of renewable energy sources
Chiatura, a town in Georgia, lies on manganese. And manganese is needed for car batteries and weapons, so it's at a premium. The lives of the people from this region are not at stake - their houses are collapsing, the water is poisoned, and they are sick and fighting desperately
According to new annual data published by the Ember Research Center, Serbia produced 2024 percent of its electricity from coal in 62,9.
Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska, once a stable exporter of electricity, today depends on imports and spends hundreds of thousands of euros every day to buy electricity. The cause of the crisis lies in the lack of coal, the poor quality of existing resources and the irresponsible management of concessions
While the coal era is coming to an end in Denmark and Britain, and more and more EU countries are planning the same green transition policy, Serbia is among the biggest users of fossil fuels.
From January to August, Serbia imported more than three million tons of coal, which cost 387,2 million euros, Nova ekonomija announced, referring to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics.
As it was established, during the excavation of the rim, the miners fell through the coal one after the other
Five of the continent's 15 most polluted neighborhoods are located in Belgrade, according to a "Guardian" analysis based on air quality data in Europe.
In the village of Vranovo near Smederevo, in a short time, a large storage of coal dust was created. The warehouse is only 10 meters from some houses. Locals announce protests because coal dust threatens their health
It is predicted that the global consumption of coal in the world will increase by 0,7 percent this year. The Government of Serbia authorized EPS to import four million tons of coal by the end of 2023.
Serbia could have avoided all this mess with electricity if the management of EPS had listened to the experts, who warned for years that it was necessary to move to new coal deposits and stop digging the already exhausted deposits. As if out of spite, the system "broke" at the most inconvenient moment, so the total damage that EPS will suffer will probably reach more than one billion euros. This is how we got into a situation where EPS, instead of investing and building a new Štavalj thermal power plant, throws that money at importing electricity. At the same time, no one can guarantee that Serbia will have enough electricity during the winter
The prices of wood for firewood and pellets are 30 to 50 percent higher than last year, but the acting director of "Srbijašum" believes that this increase is unjustified and unrealistic - in that company, a cubic meter of wood is about 4.000 dinars, and at the warehouses about 8.000.
Serbia is the fourth country in the world in terms of percentage of coal in electricity production. Only India, South Africa and Mongolia are ahead, and Poland and Kazakhstan have approximately the same results
"If I say now what everyone knows, that people who are incompetent came from the smallest manager to the top, is that a political story?" They are talking now about diversions. Well, this is an ambush suicide. Against whom was the diversion made? Against himself?”
The source of "Vremena" says that not enough good lignite is sent to TENT and that is why it has already happened that the mixture of lignite with tailings is burned with the help of fuel oil: "They tried that this time as well, but now they were not lucky."
"Postponing investment repairs, both mines and mining equipment, is the constant action of the CEO of Elekroprivreda Srbija Milorad Grčić. Over time, tailings removal was reduced to scratching, regular annual overhauls were skipped as much as possible, and all forces were focused on coal production, because the boss likes big numbers." This was written more than four years ago in the text "Restrictions in the announcement" by "Vremena" journalist Zoran Majdin. It was as if he was writing today
While a large part of Serbia is without electricity or heating, the authorities blame "wet and heavy snow". Critics, however, say that this is the result of years of inexpert management of large systems such as TENT, Elektroprivreda or Kolubarski kopi.
