April 4 (SeeNews) - A newly-built 5.5 million euro ($6 million) biomass-fuelled heating plant opened in Serbia's eastern municipality of Majdanpek, the energy ministry said.
The new plant will allow Majdanpek to stop using fuel oil for heating, thus completely eliminating sulfur dioxide emissions and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 93%, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in a press release on Wednesday.
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Majdanpek is the fourth municipality in Serbia to launch a biomass-fired plant, after Novi Pazar, Priboj and Mali Zvornik, at a combined cost of 26.75 million euro in a project carried out by the energy ministry with support from German development bank KfW and a donation from Switzerland.
The energy minister said that Serbia has agreed to continue cooperation with KfW in the second phase of this programme worth 32 million euro. So far six cities and municipalities have confirmed their interest in taking part - Prijepolje, Bajina Basta, Nis, Raca, Novi Pazar, Majdanpek.
Serbia is already preparing these projects and will start implementing them next year, Djedovic Handanovic added.
The programme is carried out in partnership with KfW and 22 Serbian public utility companies under which up to 30 district heating plants in the country will be built, rehabilitated, modernised and converted from fossil fuels to biomass.
($ = 0.9214 euro)