Round table: The second block of TPP Pljevlja – The economic and environmental challenges

On Monday, February 29th 2016, environmental CSOs MANS and Green Home organised a round table on the economic and environmental challenges accompanying the construction of the second block of TPP Pljevlja. The round table gathered representatives of the Government and the most important energy companies in the country which are involved in the project of the Unit II of TPP, as well as the representatives of the civil society and experts.

The existing coal-fired power plant in Pljevlja, which is owned by the national power supply company EPCG, is one of the largest industrial polluters in the country. The coal-fired power plant started operating in 1982, and for its production it uses coal from the Pljevlja mines, which are managed by a separate mining company – Coal Mine Pljevlja. During more than three decades of operation of the power plant and coal exploitation, several environmental black spots have been created in Pljevlja. A significant increase of cancer and respiratory diseases, when it comes to population of the city, have also been noticed, making Pljevlja one of the most polluted cities in Europe.  

Even though most European countries gave up building new coal-fired power plants, which are considered a dirty source of energy, the Government of Montenegro intends to build the second block of TPP Pljevlja. Recent Government plan threatens to make the local situation even more complex and dangerous to local communities in Pljevlja. This plan is advancing without any proper public debate on this issue and without providing citizens with any relevant information needed to justify this large-scale project.

The official line of argument provided by the Government officials includes new jobs, environment protection, more stable electricity supply and boosted local economy. These arguments, however, are not based on any solid data or information that are accessible to the general public, while the examples of similar projects in the region present a warning that Montenegrin citizens might end up with a really bad deal.

In order to fill this gap in transparency and data, MANS monitored all the activities of the Government of Montenegro regarding the announced project, as well as the activities of all major energy companies in the country. Using Law of Free Access to Information, they’ve collected a significant amount of documentation, on the basis of which they’ve prepared a “Report on (Non)Economic Viability of Construction of Unit II of the Thermal Power Plant Pljevlja”, which was launched at the round table.  

The report showed that the Government failed to prove that there is a deficit of electricity in the country, or to demonstrate the economic benefits that citizens could gain from the construction of this ”dirty source” of energy. Actual investment costs will significantly exceed the projected sum of €1 billion, not to mention costs for health care and environment protection which were estimated by Green Peace in mid-2013 to be €2.5 billion for a 40-year operation of Unit II. All of this calls the financial sustainability of the project into question and raises doubts that it will be a prelude to state aid. Commercial reserves of coal from designated deposits are not sufficient for Unit II operations within the projected period of 40 years. Moreover, there is a violation of transparency of the whole process since the feasibility study on cost effectiveness of the construction of the new plant has not been published.

You can read the entire report here.

The report and the round table were implemented as activities within MANS’s project “To prevent advancing Government’s plans to construct second block of the coal-fired power plants in Pljevlja”, which is financially supported by the ETNAR project through its sub-granting scheme.