SKOPJE (Macedonia), May 19 (SeeNews) – Macedonia's first ever gas-fired co-generation power plant, Kogel Sever DOO, was launched on Tuesday following an investment of 20 million euro ($27.2 million), the government said.
This is the country's first project for combined production of electricity and heating energy and it was privately financed, the government said in a statement posted on its website.
The plant, located in the capital of Skopje, has a combined capacity of 56.9 megawatts, with an energy efficiency of 80.5%, the statement said. It is co-owned by three private Macedonian companies.
Power generation is a high-priority policy area for the government, which also plans regional energy links and investment in new power plants, the statement quoted Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as saying at the inauguration ceremony.
According to the company’s director, Aleksandar Gecovski , the plant was built in compliance with the international Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the statement said.
Kogel Sever is expected to be issued 185,000 Certified Emission Reductions credits (CERs) per year, it added.
Under the Kyoto Protocol's emissions trading scheme, CERs can be traded and thus help to combat climate change in the most cost-effective way. A CER amounts to one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The project was supported financially by Austria Trade, Austria's foreign trade promotion organisation.
Macedonia generated 5.615 gigawatts of electricity in 2008, local power producer AD ELEM said in its annual report.
($=0.7343 euro)