Serbia: Plans for Kolubara B coal power plant halted, opening space for decarbonisation
"Cancellation of Serbia’s Kolubara B coal plant opens space for decarbonisation", 26 May 2021
On Monday, Serbian media reported that the Ministry for Mining and Energy had sent a letter to state-owned utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) asking it to halt activities on the planned Kolubara B coal power plant.
...For several years, Kolubara B appeared to be history. Then in 2018, the project was again revived and in early 2020 a preliminary construction agreement was signed with PowerChina. However, it did not pass the spatial planning stage before this week’s cancellation.
While legally and administratively easy, halting Kolubara B was nevertheless politically courageous and hugely symbolic in a country where coal supplies around 70 per cent of electricity.
...Cancelling Kolubara B is a strong step towards coming out into the open and stating clearly that Serbia needs to decarbonise. Taking this step was certainly not easy, but it needs to be followed up promptly.