North Macedonian Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi confirmed that the Government will again declare the state of emergency in the energy sector in August, in order to use 100 million euros received from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for electricity, fuel oil and coal purchases.
The plan is that all three units of coal-fired TPP Bitola will be in operation from October, as well as TPP Oslomej and oil-fired TPP Negotino, and to have enough gas and fuel oil for heating plants, especially since state-owned ESM will take over the heating plant in Skopje.
Minister Bekteshi said that electricity restrictions are not in consideration, unless neighboring countries ban electricity exports. Regarding natural gas supply, he said that North Macedonia will not accept payment in rubles under no circumstances.
