BELGRADE (Serbia), February 24 (SeeNews) – Serbian state-run power distributor Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) plans to invest 1 billion euro ($1.06 billion) in environmental projects by 2026 to comply with EU requirements, energy minister Aleksandar Antic said on Friday.
The most important projects are aimed at reducing the air pollutant emissions from power plants, including dust particles, sulphur and nitrogen oxide, but also envisage measures that limit the negative impact on the water, land and biodiversity, Antic said during a meeting with the Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission (EC), Christian Danielsson, as quoted in a statement by the Serbian government.
The measures will reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxide by 46%, sulphur oxide by 92%, and dust particles by 84% by 2026, compared to 2013, Antic said.
EPS invested a total of 200 million euro in 17 environmental projects in the period between 2000 and 2017 and received EU funding for six of them, he added.
The company has renewed the filtration technology of 14 thermal power units so far and plans to carry out denitrification projects on additional four units with a capacity of more than 300 MW each.
EPS operates six lignite-fired thermal power plants, with a combined capacity of 4,302 MW, that generate 70% of its total electricity output. The remainder is generated by hydropower plants.
($ = 0.944047 euro)