New Balkan Coal Plants 'Will Pollute Environment'

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Almost none of the new coal power plants planned in the Western Balkans will meet new, stricter European Union pollution standards, according to a new analysis by CEE Bankwatch Network, released on Tuesday.

"Of course project promoters will be reluctant to cause delays to their projects by undertaking reviews and taking measures to bring them into line with the new [standards], but failing to do so now will cost them dearly later," said Pippa Gallop, Bankwatch's research co-ordinator and author of the briefing.

"The additional costs that the new standards would entail are but the latest warning sign for governments that coal is fast becoming an unbearable liability," Gallop added.

The EU adopted its new standard, the so-called LCP BREF, on April 28 this year.

It sets out the best available techniques for controlling pollution to air, water and soil, as well as emission limits that must be reached.

Bankwatch's analysis looks at eight coal-fired units totalling 2.6 GW in capacity planned in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, plus the Stanari plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina which started commercial operations last September.

Of those eight plants, four are in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one each in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Five of the planned units would certainly not meet the new standards, while insufficient information is available for the remaining three, according to the analysis.

The planned units that do not meet the standards are Kostolac B3 in Serbia, Tuzla 7 and Banovici in Bosnia, Pljevlja 2 in Montenegro and Oslomej in Macedonia. The ones for which there is not enough information are Kosova...