Kolubara B power station

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Kolubara B power station is a cancelled power station in Belgrade, Veliki Crljeni, Serbia. It is also known as Kolubara-B power station.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Kolubara B power station	Belgrade, Veliki Crljeni, Serbia	44.4675, 20.28444 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the power station.

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year
Unit 1	Cancelled	coal: lignite	350	unknown	2024 (planned)
Unit 2	Cancelled	coal: lignite	375	unknown	–

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd AD [100%]	Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd AD [100.0%]
Unit 2	Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd AD [100%]	Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd AD [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): Kolubara mining basin

Background

The power project was initially proposed as 750 MW, but later draft spatial plans for the special purpose area and strategic environmental impact assessment reports only referenced a power plant utilizing coal of “up to 400 MW.”

Construction on Kolubara B first started in the early 1990s but was interrupted shortly after the break up of Yugoslavia, due to the lack of a stable financial structure. In 2008, RWE Power recommended "investment in minimizing losses in transmission and distribution and improvements in efficiency at existing power plants, rather than the continued construction of Kolubara B power station."

On June 30, 2011, Serbia's state-run power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and Italy's Edison signed a preliminary deal to jointly develop the Kolubara B Power Station, a 750 MW project (2 x 375 MW). A feasibility study was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. After that, the two utilities would set up a joint venture. They gave no cost estimates.

Under the proposal, Edison offered EPS a 36.4 percent stake in the new company, in which EPS had already invested 300 million euros ($424.8 million) back in 1988 before putting the construction on hold due to lack of funds. EPS had earlier put the construction cost of the plant at around 1.6 billion euros (US$2.3 billion). No bidder had expressed interest in building the plant.

Administrative permits for the project expired in July 2014, so the project promoters would have to apply for new ones. The project was mentioned as potential in the new energy strategy of Serbia approved by the government in May 2015 and was awaiting approval from parliament.

In August 2018, the Serbian government adopted a decision to set up a working group for the management of the construction of Kolubara B.

In March 2019, the Acting Director of EPS said construction on Kolubara B was planned for 2020.

In March 2020, EPS signed a preliminary agreement with PowerChina to begin construction on the EUR 385 million project by 2021. The agreement was for one 350 MW unit. The project was planned to come online by the end of 2024.

In September 2020, after an hour of heated debate, the public hearing on the draft spatial plan and strategic environmental impact assessment of the construction of the Kolubara B was halted.

On May 20, 2021, the Serbian Energy Minister sent a letter to the Director of EPS telling him to suspend all activities on the development of the 350 MW Kolubara B thermal power plant. However, the plant was not officially cancelled.

In October 2021, it was reported that EPS ceased work, as instructed by the Ministry of Mining and Energy. However, management was still insisting construction should continue. The government never came out with a final decision. In parallel, EPS issued a call for research to potentially install a solar power plant at the site. The bid was set to open on November 23, 2021, and close 60 days later.

A plan commissioned by Belgrade Land Development Public Agency in June 2022 stated that development of the power station was "not very likely". Others were still pushing for the completion of the plant's construction as of May 2022.

In December 2021, President Aleksandar Vučič apologized for something that was never in his scope of competence: “I made the mistake of (...) not moving forward with Kolubara B, because I listened to all the ecologists, fake experts, and foreigners who came to patronize me and give me a piece of their mind. I would hang myself from the biggest chandelier here because I listened to them”, he concluded.

The project was considered shelved as of May 2023 due to the absence of any tangible news on the project's progress since May 2021.

In August 2023, an article described Kolubara B power station as "abandoned". There was no mention of the plant in the draft NECP from July 2023.

Given no updates on the project since May 2021 and Serbia's adoption of the final NECP in July 2024, the status of the project was revised to "cancelled", as of September 2024.

NECP: No New Coal

It was reported in April 2023 that Serbia was soon expected to officially announce its intention to phase out coal as soon as possible or by the end of 2050 at the latest. The obligations to decarbonize and shut down thermal power plants are part of a bill on the ratification of a contract on guarantees for the EUR 300 million loan that Elektroprivreda Srbije secured from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

In July 2023, Serbia’s draft National Energy and Climate Plan was on public consultation. As Bankwatch summarized, no new coal plants seemed to be planned after Kostolac B3, but there was no information about the phase-out timetable for existing plants. In November 2023, Energy Community Secretariat released comments and recommendations on the draft NECP. Serbia should present the final draft by June 2024.

In July 2024, Serbia adopted the NECP and has aligned itself with Europe’s vision for the decarbonization of the energy sector. In the same month, Serbia also released a draft Energy Sector Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia up to 2040 showing no plans to build new thermal power plants.

Financing

On September 6, 2013, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) confirmed that it was no longer interested in financing the plant, saying in an email that "We have also informed [Elektroprivreda Srbije] that, should the project become active again, it will have to be assessed against the [Bank's] new energy strategy which has far more stringent rules and would make our possible participation very difficult.” EBRD was under pressure to follow the example of the World Bank and the European Investment Bank in significantly limiting coal lending.

In 2014, it was reported that the Chinese electrical power corporation Sinomach-CNEEC-CNEETC had opened an office in the Kolubara District of Serbia and was interested in "large energy projects in Serbia," including the power plant Kolubara B. The corporation said it was willing to invest EUR 1.3 billion in Kolubara B and the Radljevo coal mine, and that negotiations concerning Kolubara B were ongoing and the project could begin soon if there was successful cooperation between Serbia and China.

In 2020, Kolubara B was expected to be built by state-owned Power Construction Corp. of China – PowerChina.

PowerChina’s status is unknown

In 2021, China announced it would stop investing in coal plants outside of its borders. However, in October 2021, it remained unclear whether the decision included existing agreements. It was also unknown if there were any changes with regard to the contract with EPS. However, PowerChina expressed recent interest for solar power plant projects and other renewables in Serbia, Montenegro, and other places in Europe.

Kolubara mining basin

According to Bankwatch, locals living near the Kolubara Mine Complex have reported delayed, insufficient, or no compensation for their damaged properties.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.