Serbia: TPP Kostolac complex produced 5.6 billion kWh of electricity in 2019

In 2019, coal-fired power plants within the Kostolac complex produced a total of 5.6 billion kWh of electricity, which is 2.6 % more than planned. Two units of TPP Kostolac A produced about 2 billion kWh of electricity in 2019, while TPP Kostolac B produced 3.6 billion kWh. During the same period, 8,471,919 tons of coal were excavated at the nearby Drmno coalmine, as well as 31,635,615 cubic meters of overburden. On 24 December, a new daily record for the  excavation of overburden was set – 211,683 cubic meters. Thus, the previous record of 207,509 cubic meters set in 2012 was broken. The construction of the third unit is part of the second phase of a project for the modernization of Kostolac B at a total cost of some 712 million dollars. The construction of unit B3 will cost 520 million euros and it will produce 2.5 billion kWh of electricity per year, thus boosting EPS’ production capacity by some 5 %. Implementation of the project for the modernization of TPP Kostolac B was officially launched in January 2016, when EPS made an advance payment to the contractor, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC). In order to finance this project, EPS obtained a preferential loan from Chinese Exim Bank. The maturity of the loan is 20 years, with a 7-years grace period and fixed interest of 2.5 %. The deadline for the completion of the new unit is five years (until the end of 2020), but since construction works have not started yet it is very likely that the deadline will be broken. Kostolac TPP complex consists of two power plants – TPP Kostolac A (unit A1 and unit A2, 310 MW in total) and TPP Kostolac B (unit B1 and B2, 700 MW in total), including Drmno mine which supplies coal for all units.