May 9 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's sole thermal power plant TE Pljevlja, part of state-run utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), will carry out a 67 million euro ($72 million) overhaul next year aimed at cutting its negative impact on the environment and increasing its life span, local media reported.
EPCG will finance the project from its own funds, the Vijesti daily quoted the company's executive director, Ivan Bulatovic, as saying in an interview earlier this week.
Next year, coal-fired TE Pljevlja, which typically generates some 40% of EPCG's total electricity production, will be shut down for eight months for the planned revamp. Its stoppage will cause a shortage of some 400 GWh of electricity, according to preliminary estimates, which will cost some 65 million euro calculated at present prices, Bulatovic said.
He added that EPCG has already secured deliveries of the part of the electricity it will need to make up for the output of TE Pljevlja during the shutdown.
EPCG's installed generation capacities total 877 MW, with 649 MW coming from its two big hydro power plants, Perucica and Piva, and 225 MW contributed by TE Pljevlja. EPCG also operates several small hydropower plants.
EPCG said in January that TE Pljevlja achieved a record-high electricity production of 1,642 GWh in 2023.
($ = 0.931 euro)