Montenegro gives up building second unit at coal-fired plant, will focus on renewable energy

Montenegro gives up building second unit at coal-fired plant, will focus on renewable energy

By bne IntelliNews September 18, 2019

Montenegro’s government has given up building a second unit at its coal-fired Pljevlja power plant and will focus on development of renewable energy sources, Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said as quoted by Portalanalitika.me on September 18.

Previously, construction of the second unit at the Pljevlja TPP was among Montenegro’s top priorities despite concerns about its viability.

“We have given up the valorisation of a large coal deposit in the Pljevlja area for the construction of the second thermal plant, although this is a large investment and brings a big number of jobs,” Markovic said.

He added that the government chose instead to invest in sustainable development and environment protection and is spending €50mn to upgrade areas that cause pollution.

Environmental pressure group Bankwatch has warned that Pljevlja II was among ten coal-fired power plant projects across the Western Balkans that are facing serious financial problems as they have not taken carbon costs properly into account.

Despite these concerns, Montenegro had even picked a company to build the new plant, but faced issues finding financing.

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