Minister of environment and nature protection Slaven Dobrovic said that it is logical and expected that the new energy strategy will abandon the construction of the thermal power plant Plomin C.
Croatia needs to make a new energy strategy. Thus, the current one from 2009 provides big capacities using imported coal. It is very difficult or impossible to comply with the new energy policy of the European Union so it is completely logical and expected that the new energy strategy will give up on such an object” said Dobrovic when reporters asked if it was true that they are abandoning the project Plomin C and that we have received such signals from the European Commission.
When asked if he received such signals from Brussels, Dobrovic said that these are not signals. “An announcement came from that they will launch an investigation regarding government subsidies for this type of energy, “he said.
” It is necessary to make a new energy strategy urgently, because the old strategy from 2009 predicted large capacities using coal power plants. So, given that we have a new European energy policy with strong objectives in terms of increasing renewable energy, energy efficiency and emission reduction, then projects like Plomin C are very hard to fit in. However, the answers to this must be given by the energy strategy and I would not dare to say that this is absolutely going to happen, but all the arguments so far do not support that project” explained Minister Dobrovic.
When asked whether he can say today that the story of the construction of the coal fueled thermal power plant Plomin C and in Ploce is definitely over, Dobrovic said that he cannot say so.
“People who are making the energy strategy must answer that but it can be expected that this project will be very hard to include because imported coal is economically unsustainable, since we do not have our own coal mines, and the other thing is that the emissions of CO2 and other pollutants make it a very problematic project” said Dobrovic.
When asked what will happen with the Japanese company Marubeni, which has won the tender for the construction of Plomin C and negotiations with this company, Dobrovic said that he does not know at what stage the negotiations are and if they have any obligations.
“However, if they (obligations) exist that is incomparable to the damage that would be created if we build such a facility because it is the economically, not only environmentally, an unsustainable system,” said Minister Dobrovic on Saturday at the Croatian Journalists’ Association, where he participated in a round table on climate change, transmits Serbia-energy.eu
