After a ten-day shutdown, the thermal power plant (TPP) in Ugljevik has been reconnected to the electricity grid. The plant halted production at the end of December due to a coal shortage and had previously been offline earlier in the month. However, the future of its operations remains uncertain. Boban Benovic, President of the Workers’ Union at TPP Ugljevik, stated that coal supply is highly dependent on weather conditions, warning that future shutdowns are inevitable. While the coalmine has met its production targets, the plant faces issues with the coal’s low calorific value, causing it to consume more fuel than anticipated.
TPP Ugljevik provides around a third of the electricity required for the domestic market, meaning that when it goes offline, electricity must be imported. The entire electricity system of the Republic of Srpska (RS) is facing significant difficulties, with almost all companies under the state-owned ERS being insolvent. Recently, RS Minister of Energy and Mining, Petar Djokic, stated that approximately 350 million euros are needed to operate the system at full capacity, but those funds are currently unavailable.
Another major challenge for TPP Ugljevik is a ruling from the Arbitration Court in Belgrade, which mandates that the company pay compensation of 67 million euros, plus 58.2 million euros in interest, to the Slovenian company Elektrogospodarstvo. In addition to repaying this debt, TPP Ugljevik is also required to deliver one-third of its electricity production to Elektrogospodarstvo as long as the power plant remains operational. In December, the RS Government decided that the debt would be repaid from the state budget.
