U Thermal power plants Kostolac pollution was higher on Monday than it was before desulfurization system introduced in 2021, so there is a fear of what the results of the flue gas desulfurization plant that is being built at the Nikola Tesla B Thermal Power Plant will be.
There are several reasons for such a situation, and the fact is that the Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS) is still responsible for as much as 41,6 percent of pollution with harmful gases in Serbia. writes the New Economy.
Minister Đedović Handanović promises better air quality
The Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, assessed that the construction of the desulfurization plant at the Nikola Tesla B Thermal Power Plant is one of the most important projects in Serbia, thanks to which sulfur dioxide emissions will be reduced by as much as 30 times.
Đedović Handanović emphasized that with the completion of the project worth around 220 million euros, all large thermal power plants of EPS, i.e. more than 90 percent of thermal capacity, will be completely environmentally acceptable at the level of European and Serbian standards, which will also mean better air quality.
The problem is that Serbia has committed itself to shut down some of these plants, and to improve some of them so that they can continue to operate with less harmful gas emissions. For example, the thermal power plants of Kolubara and Morava were supposed to be shut down last year, but the Government decided to continue operating anyway, and this is not the first time that international agreements have been violated. Apart from the plants continuing to operate, the desulphurization system, which should extend the life of some thermal power plants, does not seem to be working well either.
Pollution six times higher than allowed
The program director of the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and Environment (RERI) Mirko Popović said that the data from the report submitted to the Energy Community, which was made by Serbia, says that the desulfurization plant installed in Kostolac now produces higher emissions than before.
"The desulfurization plant that was installed in Kostolac now produces higher emissions than before." More pollution was measured in 2023 than in 2022. Again, we violated international agreements there. According to expectations, the plant was supposed to reduce pollution by 96 percent, and in 2023 we have an emission of 45.802 tons of sulfur dioxide, while in 2022 it amounted to 36.560 tons," said Popović.
He added that "our level of emissions from thermal power plants is about 300.000 tons of sulfur dioxide, which is six times more than the permitted level of about 55.000 tons."
Popović pointed out that for desulphurization in the Nikola Tesla A Thermal Power Plant emissions still need to be measured, because the necessary measurements are done for a year.
How to solve the problem of waste by-products?
He pointed out that we now have one desulphurization plant that is working, but which is not achieving what was planned, and another one that was installed in April this year, and that the third one has yet to start operating.
"It is important to point out that the mechanism provided for in the European Community directive on large combustion plants included two tools. For those big old plants that have problems to comply in time with the increased requirements to reduce emissions or to close them down. There was time from 2018 to 2023 to harmonize, but Serbia provided the legal framework, but not the implementation," said Popović.
He explained that the problem with desulphurization plants is that the by-product of that process is gypsum, "and large quantities of gypsum that need to be placed somewhere, which was a problem in Kostolac".
"We need to see what substances this waste contains, whether they are dangerous and dispose of it in the right way," warned Popović.
Another problem, he says, is the large amount of waste water that is generated in this process.
And third, desulfurization reduces the energy efficiency of the plant and increases the levels of carbon dioxide emissions. Although they will reduce the emission of sulfur dioxide, they will contribute to the increase of carbon dioxide".
Source: New Economy
