January 28 (SeeNews) - Montenegro plans to start negotiations with the Energy Community to avoid the closure of Pljevlja thermal power plant (TPP), capital investments minister Mladen Bojanic said.
"It will not be closed; there is a small chance for this because we will do something about it, we will go to negotiations [...] we will find some compromise and agreement," Bojanic said in a video file posted on the website of public broadcaster RTCG on Wednesday.
In July, the Energy Community said Montenegro may be obliged to close Pljevlja TPP by the end of 2020, as the plant will exceed the maximum operational hours set under the Large Combustion Plants Directive which regulates the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust emissions from existing power plants in the six Western Balkan countries.
Pljevlja TPP has operated for 14,812 hours out of a total 20,000 allowed under the opt-out clause of the directive and its expected closure date, calculated based on the extrapolation of the average usage ratio in 2018 and 2019, is November 2020, the Energy Community said in an Energy Transition Tracker report in July. The Energy Transition Tracker will monitor endeavors of governments, investors, market players and citizens in the energy transition in the Western Balkan parties to the Energy Community Treaty, on the path to decarbonisation.