July 3 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) [MNG:EPCG] plans to invest 45 million euro ($50.8 million) in the reconstruction of the Pljevlja thermal power plant (TPP), the company said.
EPCG plans to launch a tender for the selection of a contractor for the overhaul works in July, the company said in a statement last week.
The reconstruction, to be implemented in the period between 2019 and 2021, will allow the company to continue operating the Pljevlja TPP in the next 20 to 30 years under the new directives for reducing harmful emissions, EPCG said.
Last year, EPCG signed a contract worth 664,260 euro ($823,776) with Germany's Steag Energy Services for the drafting of a preliminary design project for the reconstruction of Pljevlja TPP. The project includes the construction of systems for desulphurisation, nitrogen oxide reduction and wastewater treatment, EPCG said back then.
EPCG said earlier this year it plans to invest 19 million euro in the recultivation of the Maljevac ash and slag landfill between 2018 and 2023, in order to ensure its operation during the entire lifecycle of the first unit of Pljevlja TPP.
In December, Montenegro's government said it plans to complete Pljevlja's modernisation by 2021 in order to avoid closure of the plant. The power plant has a utility life of 20,000 hours in the period between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2023, environment minister Pavle Radulovic said back then.
($ = 0.886167 euro)