"When
the whole world, and especially the European Union, is facing problems not only
because of prices but mostly because of stability, Serbia has enough
electricity, gas and heating energy and situation will not change in the days
and months to follow," said Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister of
the Government of Serbia and Minister of Mining and Energy, and Milorad Grčić,
acting director of "Elektroprivreda Srbije", after visiting works on
rehabilitation of unit B1 in the thermal power plant "Nikola Tesla
B".
Rehabilitation
of unit B1 in TENT B, with a capacity of 650 megawatts, started on 2nd
of May, and the works are planned to last 210 days and the unit is planned to
be synchronized with the network on 28th of November. Works are
estimated to be worth EUR 90 million, and the capacity of this unit will be
increased by at least 20 megawatts.
- In the
coming period, we will find a common solution for the economy that will not
endanger EPS, and that will lead to a sustainable relationship with prices when
it comes to economy, as high prices affect competitiveness. We are grateful to
all the people working on the rehabilitation project of unit B1, there is
approximately 600 of them, and every day of early completion of works means a
lot for Serbia, the economy and EPS, and thus the possibility of importing
energy when the price is very high is reduced. All the help and support you
need from the state will be available to you 24 hours a day - said Mihajlović.
She
explained that better planning and greater investment is necessary and that the
state will work on that together with EPS. She pointed out that EPS cannot do
it alone, so everything will be done jointly and in a responsible manner,
because it is a matter of the state existence, as well as of the economy and
society development.
- For
the first time in 40 years we are rehabilitating Unit B1. For the past three
years we have been making plans and preparations, we have ordered parts from
abroad, as well as a turbine and a generator, we are working on new mills and
boilers. After today's conversation, we expect that we can shorten the works by
11 days, i.e. that it will last less than 200 days - said Grčić. - This is an
expensive project worth EUR 90 million, where EUR 20 million is reserved for a
turbine and a generator, and EUR 70 million for a boiler. As much as 70 percent
of the work of those EUR 70 million is done by Serbian metal and boiler
manufacturers. Every boiler company is put to work. Leading company is
"PRO TENT", which was founded in 2004 by spinning off from EPS,
when the aim of certain officials was to split EPS.
Grčić
emphasized that today's energy crisis in the world indicates that the policy of
the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, to renew and preserve every thermal
and hydro capacity is justified, and that no installed thermal capacity will be
shut down.
- We are
obliged to take care of environmental protection and the proof of that is
making a progress in building a desulfurization plant in TENT A, and we also
started building such plant here in TENT B. Our goal is to move all projects
for environmental protection to the largest electric power plant in the
Balkans, where more than half of the electricity is generated - said Grčić. -
Energy crisis has fully justified the policy of the President of Serbia that
every thermal capacity must be preserved and renewed using the most
sophisticated measures for environmental protection.
Head of
the EPS pointed out that a team of young engineers employed few years ago
through vacancy announcement now participates in the rehabilitation, and that
their work in such projects is necessary for the future of EPS. Grčić expressed
his gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia for the visit and the
assistance provided by TENT and EPS for the business survival and improvement.
