The works on the
revitalization of unit B1 in the Thermal Power Plant "Nikola Tesla B"
will be completed on November 25, thus completing
the great work that will
provide Serbia with a stable electricity supply - said Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, the President of Serbia who visited the works
in TENT
B with Mr. Milorad Grčić, acting director of
"Electric Power Industry of Serbia". The
revitalization worth approximately
90 million euros is to increase the capacity of the unit by about 20 megawatts and
enable reliable and more efficient electricity generation
in the upcoming
decades.
Mr. Vučić complimented the workers for the incredible job they had performed
on the revitalization of one of the two largest EPS units located in TENT B.
- These are the real
heroes who had been doing literally the hardest jobs day and night.
They had as many as 58,000 weldings. It's amazing how much work has been done. This is Serbia’s breadwinner - Mr. Vučić emphasized.
He added that
Serbia had been lacking exactly those 650 megawatts of unit B1
since May, when the revitalization works had began, so that electricity needed to be
imported, and gas imports increased for combined
heat and power plants in Novi Sad
and Pančevo.
- It had its
price, but when we get those 650 megawatts, we will
no longer have to pay 200 euros per megawatt-hour for electricity, as Northern
Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia have to do - said Mr. Vučić. - In this situation, Serbia found better solution
than the surrounding countries, but we would not have succeeded had it not been
for the fantastic workers. Afterwards, Serbia will fill the accumulations of
hydro power plants, that is, store electricity and save it for the most
difficult winter days.
The President of
Serbia pointed out that without coal production, Serbia could not
have enough electricity and that, if TENT, "Kostolac" and
"Kolubara" were excluded, and that would be compensated by
imports at a price higher than 200 euros per MWh, "the state would go
bankrupt in a year. " He explained that Serbia would reduce
the share of energy obtained from coal and build renewable sources capacities, but also that citizens must be
told that now there are no other stable sources of electricity except for coal, and
that they should keep that in mind when supporting some politicians who speak to the contrary.
- Having electricity is
not anyone's whim, nor a desire, but a bare
necessity. Serbia will build
renewable energy sources, but if it turned off the coal capacities, 10 largest
cities and 50 smaller ones would be left without electricity, as well as all the
hospitals - warned Mr. Vučić, and added that Serbia got 68 percent of its electricity from coal.
As he pointed
out, Serbia needs what is safe and what certainly
makes electricity, in the
sun, rain and snow and various meteorological conditions, so the base capacities
will have to be built as well.
- We will see in
the years ahead of us what will be
decided
upon
- whether to participate in nuclear power plants in the surrounding countries
or to
be able to make modular ones ourselves - said Mr. Vučić.
According to his
words, they had discussed the possibility of Serbia owning 15% of the Hungarian
nuclear power plant, which would be completed in 2035, as well as the
Bulgarian Belene nuclear power plant, while offers for independent construction
of modular nuclear power plants could possibly be considered. As Mr. Vučić
emphasized, the decision would certainly not be made abruptly, but
only after
serious analysis of costs, profits and security. Mr.
Vučić announced that on
December 1, important talks on the price of electricity for the economy would be held,
which, as he said, would have to be lower than on the stock
exchange, but still slightly higher than before, so that EPS would not suffer losses, but also to keep
entrepreneurs satisfied, since favorable
price of electricity encourages investments in Serbia. TENT B
employees presented the President of Serbia with a map of the Balkans from
1897. Ms. Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and
Energy, also visited the
works in TENT B.