According to Montenegrin state-owned power utility EPCG, coal-fired thermal power plant Pljevlja should remain an integral part of the country’s electricity system at least until 2035, adding that such a position does not impede the company’s ambitions toward energy transition.
The financial analyzes, which take into account the movement of prices of CO2 emissions and electricity on the exchanges, clearly show that the continuation of TPP’s operation is very cost- effective, and that environmentally oriented reconstruction of the plant will meet even the strictest EU environmental requirements. If TPP Pljevlja would be closed now, EPCG will have to pay one million euros per day for electricity imports in order to keep the system stable.
If TPP Pljevlja is shut down without providing sufficient number of new energy sources, EPCG would have to import electricity for between 120 and 180 million euros per year, according to current prices on regional exchanges. Thus, the state would become completely energy dependent. Even if the funds for electricity imports are not the issue, there are not enough cross-border capacities to facilitate high imports.
In late September, Minister of Capital Investments Mladen Bojanic said that planned environmentally oriented reconstruction of TPP Pljevlja is not financially viable, because the price of produced electricity would be extremely high. Instead, he recommended that the funds planned for the reconstruction should be invested in renewable energy projects.
