MIHAJLOVIC: In a few decades time, Serbia will not have any thermal power plants

This is a year of great changes, and thermal power plants in Serbia will be shut down in the coming decades, Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on the eve of the parliamentary debate on a set of laws in the field of mining and energy on April 15.

In an appearance in "Uranak" on TV K1, she said environmental protection is not only about changing the public awareness, but also about changing the investment plan, which should be based on the production of electricity and heat from renewable energy sources.

- We have to make a plan on how we will shut down thermal power plants in the coming decades. People must be aware that there will be no thermal electric power plants in about twenty or 30 years, but we will be producing everything, electricity and heat from renewable energy sources. That means hydroelectric power plants, gas-fired and solar power plants, as well as wind power plants, biomass and similar plants, because we no longer have the money to pay for those emissions - said Mihajlovic.

When it comes to small hydroelectric power plants, the minister says that their construction in protected areas will be banned.

That means, she explains, that they can not be built in all national parks, as well as in the areas of the first, second or third degree of protection, which is a large part of Serbia.

When asked what will happen to SHPPs that have already been built, Mihajlovic states that there are two possibilities, to work for the time period for which they have a contract, which means a few more years, or for the state to close them before that with lawsuits.

- Not a large number of SHPPs have already been built - said Mihajlovic.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Zorana Mihajlovic

thermal power plants

shuting down the thermal power plants

renewable energy sources

gas-fired plants

solar power plants

wind power plants

biomass power plants

small hydropower plants

SHPP