Fiscal Council: EPS among Worst Polluters in Europe

Coal plant Nikola Tesla/EPS/PETAR VUJANIC

The Fiscal Council has said that a fiscal strategy 2020 drafted by the Serbian government, including 2021-2022 projections, does not envisage an increased amount of investments into state-owned enterprises, primarily power utility EPS, which has been reported a decline in electricity generation, which further renders a drop in Serbia’s economic growth.

According to Fiscal Council President Pavle Petrovic, investments are necessary to replace obsolete facilities, slated to shut down by the end of 2023. He noted that by the end of 2025, EPS would have to inject at least EUR3 billion in the construction of new and the reconstruction of the existing power plants, and also in reducing electric power transmission and distribution losses.

“EPS has to invest at least EUR800 million in environmental protection as it is the biggest polluter in Serbia and among the biggest in Europe,” the Fiscal Council said in its analysis of the government’s draft fiscal strategy. The investment would have to be finalized by the end of 2025 to enable Serbia to achieve national and European environmental protection targets, which is why it is necessary to build a flue-gas desulphurization plant, a waste management system, and a wastewater treatment plant, according to the Council.

“In 2016, the highest emissions of sulfur dioxide in Europe were registered with Serbia’s thermal power plant (TPP) Kostolac Unit B, followed by carbon dioxide emissions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, TPP Nikola Tesla Unit A in Obrenovac (Serbia), a TPPT in Kakanj (Bosnia), TPP Kostolac Unit A (Serbia), while the sixth worst polluter was TPP Nikola Tesla Unit B in Obrenovac (Serbia),” it is said in the Fiscal Council’s analysis.