Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy said that power utility EPS as well as other energy companies are compliant with the measures envisaged in the National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP), which was approved by the Energy Community (EnC) in 2016, but never officially adopted in Serbia.
The Ministry said in the statement that NERP was coordinated with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and all companies in the country’s energy sector, which are all operating in line with the plan’s provisions. As for why the plan has not been adopted yet, the Ministry of Mining and Energy said that it is up to the Ministry of Environmental Protection to submit the NERP to the Government for adoption.
Earlier this week, The Energy Community Secretariat sent an Opening Letter to Serbia to address the incomplete implementation of the Large Combustion Plants Directive. The Directive took effect on 1 January 2018 in the Energy Community. For existing large combustion plants, two alternative implementation avenues exist: either compliance with the emission limit values for SO2, NOx and dust at individual plant level, or implementation of a National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP). Every plant must be covered by either of the two options. Out of the sixteen existing large combustion plants in Serbia, nine are under the scope of the dispute settlement case.
The draft NERP of Serbia was approved in 2016 by the Secretariat. In the past years, the Secretariat repeatedly called upon the national authorities for its adoption, which however has not happened. In the Opening Letter, the Secretariat takes the view that in the absence of a legally binding NERP, the existing large combustion plants in Serbia have to comply with the emission limit values of the Directive at individual level. This is not the case for the nine plants concerned.
