(Belgrade, 2nd
January 2019) “In 2018, Electric Power Industry of Serbia has met its plans and
increased production, obtained the energy permit for Kostolac Wind Farm and
there is a plan for 2019 to increase total production of electricity in Serbia
by four percent, to 40 billion kWh”, said Mr. Aleksandar Antić, the Minister of
Mining and Energy, who visited
EPS employees together with Mr. Milorad Grčić, PE EPS Acting Director.
At EPS hopper
station in Vreoci, from which coal from Kolubara MB
is delivered by railway to Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla, Mr. Antic thanked
EPS and its employees who work during holidays, 365 days a year, 24 hours a
day, emphasizing that at
the hopper station the second day of holiday in 2019 passed as any other
ordinary working day.
- The overall
energy situation in Serbia is completely stable and the supply of all key
energy resources for households and economy is secure. At EPS mines, Kolubara
and Kostolac, the planned coal production in 2019 is about 38 million tons,
which is by 1.5 percent more than in 2018. The Government of Serbia and the
Ministry of Mining and Energy will support EPS’s employees in achieving an
ambitious goal of gross production of about 40 terawatt-hours of electricity in
2019. Wind capacities have become a part of electricity generation in Serbia,
but still the key to the stability of the power system lies in the generation
of EPS’s thermal sector - stated the Minister and wished all employees a happy
New Year.
Mr. Antić said
that one of the key things in 2019 would be the beginning of activities on the
desulphurization project in TENT B, but the project for the construction of a
new thermal power plant Kolubara B and the assessment of its feasibility were
also important, and he said that the new Unit B3 in Kostolac should be
completed by the end of 2020.
- The great
news for EPS is that on the last day of previous year, an energy permit was
obtained for the construction of wind farm in Kostolac. We are very pleased
that 2018 ended like this and we expect that the construction of that wind farm
will start in the third quarter of 2019. EPS met the plans, we managed to
produce enough coal, and we generated electricity by 1.2 percent more than in
2017. - said Mr. Grčić and wished a happy New Year to all EPS employees and wished health
and happiness to them and their families.
Mr. Miodrag
Ranković, the union president at Kolubara MB, said that thanks to the coal
loaded at the hopper station in Vreoci Serbia "shines" 365 days a
year, and added that miners do their job responsibly and that Serbia would continue
to "shine" as long as miners dig coal.
Mr. Milan
Đorđević, the president of EPS trade union, Mr. Bojan Stević, State Secretary
at the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the representatives
of EPS management also attended the visit at the hopper station in Vreoci.