PRISTINA (Kosovo), January 30 (SeeNews) – The EU will finance a 76.4 million euro ($84.1 million) project through its Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) to improve the environmental performance of Kosovo's largest power plant, the coal-fired Kosovo B plant, the European Commission said on Thursday.
“The project will significantly lower emissions, contribute to reliable and clean energy supply and improve the health and well-being of the population,” the Commission said in a press release, following a visit by EU high representative Josep Borrell in Kosovo.
The project is expected to reduce air pollution in Kosovo, lowering the emission of harmful dust by 35 times and nitrogen oxides four times, bringing it in line with EU standards, the Commission added.
“Air pollution is one of the most acute environmental problems affecting the Western Balkans, including Kosovo,” Borrell said, adding that the with this investment, the EU is providing a concrete contribution to improve the environment in Kosovo and the region, as well as to improve the health and well-being of people. “The European Green Deal is a deal for all of us in Europe, Kosovo included. With this project, we want to take a first step in this direction. We hope and expect that our determination will be matched by that of Kosovo's policy makers.”
Kosovo has inherited a large number of environmental problems, accumulated over decades of uncontrolled use of natural and mineral resources, industrial production coupled with very high levels of pollution, the Commission said. The overall environmental situation in Kosovo has worsened over the past years with increased constructions, traffic and industrial pollution including the pollution from power plants and household heating during the winter, it added.
An EU financed feasibility study concluded that in both generation units of Kosovo B, the dust and NOx emissions are far exceeding the Industrial Emission Directive (IED) limit values.
Some 98% of electricity generated in Kosovo comes from two old, inefficient and highly polluting lignite-fired power plants, Kosovo A and B. Kosovo citizens suffer power shortages due to insufficient output, ageing grids and thefts, according to a World Bank report on Kosovo's energy sector.
In May 2018, energy group ContourGlobal and Kosovo's government said General Electric has been selected as the preferred bidder for the construction and long-term maintenance of Kosova e Re, a 500 MW coal-fired power plant expected to cost around 1.3 billion euro.
($ = 0.9084 euro)