Procedure Initiated Against Serbia Due to TPP Morava

The Energy Community Secretariat has initiated a procedure against Serbia for violating the Large Combustion Plants Directive in the case of the Thermal Power Plant Morava, which continues to operate despite the expiry of their limited lifetime derogation period.

According to the plan to which Serbia has obligated, the TPP Morava was supposed to operate for no more than 20,000 hours following January 1, 2018. After that, the power plant was supposed to either close or switch to other energy sources.

According to the press release of the Energy Community, the plants concerned can only remain in operation if they meet the stricter standards of the Industrial Emissions Directive, which is not the case for TPP Morava, which “reached the end of the limited lifetime derogation” in 2022.

On that occasion, the Energy Community Secretariat sent an Opening Letter to Serbia to address its breach of the Large Combustion Plants Directive.

Said EU directive pertains to limitations of the emission of sulfur-dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust from large combustion plants. According to the directive, certain power plants which use fossil fuels are allowed to use the limit of 20,000 working hours by the end of 2023 at the latest. Following that, they can continue working only if they meet the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

The TPP Morava in Svilajnac, built in 1969, based on waste coal from underground mines, has a block with an installed power of 125 MW, which produced 560 GWh last year, that is, 1.8% of the total production of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS).

From 2025 to 2035, EPS intends to shut down 10 blocks with a total power of 1,094 MW in its TPPs, according to the company’s “Go Green Road” plan.

That should mean that the TPPs Morava, Kolubara A and Kostolac A will stop working and that the TPP Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) will continue working at a reduced capacity.

The closing of the blocks will result in the reduction of the emission factor from 0.86 tons of CO2 per MWh in the base year of 2019 to 0.51 tons in 2035.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Energy Community Secretariat

EPS

TPP Morava

procedure against Serbia

closing of TPP Morava

EU Industrial Emissions Directive

IED