GE to build Kosovo's new 500 MW coal power plant

ENKA Insaat ve Sanayi AS

03/05/2019 14:14

PRISTINA, May 3 (Reuters) - Kosovo and London-listed power
firm ContourGlobal  GLO.L  said on Friday they had chosen a
consortium of General Electric  GE.N  subsidiaries to build and
equip a new 500 megawatt (MW)coal-fired power plant in the
Balkan country.
    Although sitting on more than 14 billion tonnes of proven
lignite reserves, the fifth largest in the world, Kosovo is
struggling with power shortages. The new plant is designed to
meet nearly half of the country's power demand. 
    "The selection of GE as Preferred Bidder puts Kosovo one
step closer to achieving a successful outcome of the process
that began long ago with the support of so many international
institutions," Kosovo's economy minister Valdrin Lluka said in a
statement.
    "Successful implementation of this project has the potential
to reshape the overall economic perspective of the country," he
added.
    The other bidders for the project were China Machinery
Engineering Corporation (CMEC), South Korea's Hyundai and a
consortium of Turkey's ENKA, Japan's Mitsubishi Hitachi Power
Systems and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas. 
    The project is valued at $1.3 billion, with financing
expected to come from a mix of the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) and export credit agencies, ContourGlobal's
CEO told Reuters in October.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1WR467
    Construction of the plant is expected to start later this
year.
    Currently  around 90 percent of Kosovo's electricity is
produced by two ailing coal-fired plants -- Kosova A and Kosova
B -- which are among Europe's worst polluters. 
    Environmentalists have complained the new plant could lock
Kosovo into a future powered by lignite – the dirtiest form of
coal. However, the government said the new plant, which will
replace Kosova A, would burn 40 percent less coal and release 20
times less emissions.
     The World Bank last year said it would not back the project
because it would use coal rather than renewable fuels.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1WQ5XG
    The government has committed to buying the total output of
the plant at a price yet to be determined.
 

 (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((fatos.bytyci@thomsonreuters.com; +383 49 161 602;))