Will the New Thermal Block B3 at Kostolac Finally Turn the Light On? – EPS Requesting Permit for Commissioning of a Facility with a Power of 350 MW

Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has opened the tender for the service of obtaining the integrated permit for the purposes of the project of the construction of the block B3 in the location of the thermal power plant Kostolac B. The value of the procurement has been estimated at RSD 15 million.

In the location of the thermal power plant Kostolac B, the works on the construction of the new block B3, with an installed power of 350 MW, are in progress. The construction of the new block B3 began in 2016 and the works are expected to be completed in 2023.

The works on the construction of the new block B3 with all the accompanying systems, including the expansion of the coal disposal site with a third disposal line, as well as the disposing of solid waste in the internal disposal site of the open-pit mine Drmno, are carried out in line with the technical specifications of the Chinese company CMEC as the main planner and contractor.

The Law on the Integrated Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution defines the integrated (IPPC) permit as the decision of the competent organ adopted in the form of the decision which authorizes the commissioning of a facility or one part of it.

The integrated permit is issued for the operation of new facilities and their activities, and no new facility can start working without the integrated permit. The permit is issued for a period which cannot be longer than 10 years.

Bids may be sent by September 22, and more details (in Serbian) can be found HERE.

As announced earlier, the agreement on the construction of the block B3 at the thermal power plant Kostolac B was signed by the Government of Serbia and EPS with the Chinese company CMEC back in 2013. The works started five years later, and since then, the deadline for their completion has been moved several times.

The construction of the block B3, worth USD 618 million, is the biggest investment in EPS in the past 30 years, and the most recent thermal power plant was built precisely in Kostolac.

The minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic, stated in February this year that it was necessary to accelerate the construction of the new block B3 of the Thermal Power Plant Kostolac in order to meet the set deadline and so that Serbia would get a new 350 MW on the grid before the next winter.

The expected annual production of this block with a nominal power of 350 MW is around 2.5 billion kWh of electrical energy.

The minister recently said that, for the energy sector in Serbia, the completion of the new thermal power plant Kostolac B3 and the gas interconnection between Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as a further increase of the mandatory reserves of oil and oil products, were among the most important tasks for the energy sector in Serbia.

I. Z.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Predstavništvo Preduzeća China Machinery Engineering Corporation Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije

CMEC

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Dubravka Đedović

Kostolac B

Kostolac B3

Law on the Integrated Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution