If we were to put the energy system of Serbia on the scanner, we would see that almost all the energy plants that produce electricity, heat us and cool us, are older than 30 years.
Someone 50 and 60 years ago thought of us, then the future generations, and left us strong and high-quality energy plants, thanks to which we are one of the few countries that is still carefree about energy, and that’s cheap. Thanks to those facilities, built during the former SFRY, our economy is also developing.
Many of these plants at that time represented a technical marvel not in Europe, but in the world. One of those miracles was the “Đerdap” hydroelectric power plant.
In the last 30 years, Serbia, with the help of the Chinese, managed to build one thermoblock with a power of 350 megawatts. It is about thermoblock B3 in Kostolac, which, after several years of delay, has recently finally been online.
When it comes to hydroelectric power plants, not a single large such power plant has been built in the last 30 years or more. However, the current government has designated the construction of the Reversible Hydropower Plant “Bistrica” and “Đerdap 3” as priority projects.
It is interesting that both projects were taken out of the Yugoslav drawer and that they were thought of 40 years ago.
Investments in renewable energy sources (RES) are still negligible. According to the data of the RES Association, 11 wind farms with a capacity of 607 megawatts have been built in Serbia so far. However, wind farms are privately owned and most of this energy is for sale, so it also goes outside the country.
When it comes to solar panels, solar power plants in Serbia provide only 60 megawatts of energy, and the power of the solar panels that are in the prosumer system is about 80 megawatts.
In the meantime, Serbia has joined the Turkish Stream through which Russian gas arrives, and through the interconnection with Bulgaria, it will also receive gas from Azerbaijan starting this winter.
However, there is a big difference between having energy “in your backyard” and being dependent on others. The geopolitical tensions between Russia, the European Union and the USA after the war in Ukraine showed how risky this is.
Due to these tensions, several times the flow of gas through the Turkish Stream was questionable, and it is still questionable at this moment considering that the USA has imposed sanctions on Gazprombank. European countries that continue to use Russian gas together with Russia are looking for a solution to continue paying for gas. Serbia is among those countries.
Serbia faces another risk. By signing the Paris Agreement and as a candidate for membership in the European Union, Serbia indirectly undertook to become climate neutral by 2050. This means that in 25 years it should shut down all coal-fired power plants.
According to the data of the Energy Agency, in 2023, Serbia received almost 58 percent of its electricity from coal, 35 percent from hydroelectric power plants, about five percent from thermal power plants (which use gas and fuel oil), about three percent from wind power plants and the rest from solar, biomass and biogas.
Last year, the total installed capacity of thermal power plants in Serbia was about 4,000 megawatts. This means that in 25 years, Serbia must find an energy replacement for the 4,000 megawatts currently provided by coal.
The need for electricity is increasing, Serbia has less and less coal, green agendas are also on its neck, time is getting shorter and the question arises: “Will future generations be this carefree about electricity or will our lack of investment pay for them?” ?”.
Many energy experts see the construction of a nuclear power plant as the only way out of this situation.
Professional staff responsible for the strong foundations of Serbia’s energy system
The energy history of Serbia is very rich, primarily thanks to the professional and high-quality staff who laid good foundations on which the heart of our energy system still beats today.
Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) celebrated its 131st birthday on October 6, 2024. On that date, back in 1893, the first public power plant in Serbia, the Dorćol Thermal Power Plant in Belgrade, was put into operation.
It lit up the streets of the city and the homes of prominent citizens, and it was powerful enough to run the town’s railway (trams) and some industrial plants. That is why that date represents the beginning of electrification in Serbia.
Thermal power plants in Serbia
The oldest active thermal power plant in Serbia is “Kolubara”, whose first thermoblock was put into operation almost 70 years ago, in 1956 to be exact. Over time, it received a total of five blocks, and its total power reached about 270 megawatts.
In October 2024, EPS announced a tender for shutting down this thermal power plant, as well as another thermal power plant that is among the oldest in the country. It is about the thermal power plant “Morava”, which was put into operation in 1969, and during its working life it had one unit with a power of 125 megawatts.
Two years before its commissioning, the thermal power plant “Kostolac A” started operating, and in 1967, its unit A1 was put into operation.
The first unit of the largest thermal power plant in Serbia, “Nikola Tesla A”, with a capacity of 210 megawatts, was put into operation in 1970, and six months later the second thermal unit of the same capacity was put into operation.
“TENT A” began to be built in 1967, and the first two oldest blocks were built in three years. The thermal power plant “Kostolac A1” and the thermal power plant “Morava” were built in parallel. Construction of both thermal power plants began in 1965.
Let us remind you that block B3 in Kostolac, which the Chinese handed over to EPS this heating season, began to be built in 2017. It took seven years to build one block, while 50 years ago four blocks were built in five years and are still in operation today.
From 1976 to 1979, the remaining four “TENT A” blocks were built, and the total capacity was then 1,650 megawatts.
A year later, block A2 of the thermal power plant “Kostolac A” was put into operation.
In that period, the construction of “TENT B” also began. The two largest thermoblocks in the energy system of Serbia are located in this power plant. The first was commissioned in 1983, and the second in 1985. Both blocks had 620 megawatts of installed power at that moment.
The youngest thermal power plant in Serbia is the “Kostolac B” thermal power plant. The first block was commissioned in 1988, the second in 1991, and the third this heating season after more than 30 years.
All these thermal power plants are still in operation today. We should not forget that at that time thermal power plants were also built in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in other former SFRY countries.
See the full article here.
Source: Danas.rs
Source: energetskiportal.rs
