Thermal power plant Ugljevik was forced to halt operations this morning due to a shortage of coal, the plant’s union president Boban Benović confirmed. He explained that severe weather had disrupted coal deliveries, leaving the facility without sufficient fuel to continue production. At this stage, there is still no clear estimate of when Ugljevik might return to the grid.
The Republic of Srpska’s largest electricity producer is facing deepening fuel-supply problems, compounded by the fact that mining has not yet started at the Ugljevik–Istok 2 deposit. This delay persists even though the RS Government has already paid most of the €125 million required to acquire Comsar Energy RS and the concession for coal extraction at the site previously owned by Russian businessman Rashid Serdarov. According to Benović, workers hope the situation will be resolved soon and expect the planned transfer of the concession to RiTE Ugljevik to move forward.
The difficulties come amid additional setbacks in the sector. The entity’s other thermal power plant, Gacko, was taken offline a day earlier, on 26 November. Director Maksim Skoko said the shutdown was caused by a failure in the coal-feeding system, triggered by recent storms. He added that the plant is expected to resume operations later in the day once repairs are completed.
These two outages underscore mounting challenges in the RS energy system, where unstable coal supplies and weather-related disruptions are increasingly affecting operational reliability.
