Bosnian state-controlled coal miner and
energy producer RiTE Gacko plans to launch this year activities
on a project for the construction of a 300 MW thermal power plant (TPP), the
government of the Serb Republic entity said on Thursday.
A Chinese
state-owned bank and a Chinese partner have expressed interest in the project,
which will be implemented by state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda RS, a
government statement quoted the entity’s energy and mining minister Petar Djokic
as saying after he visited RiTE Gacko, a unit of Elektroprivreda RS
Holding.
RiTE Gacko, which operates a 300 MW coal-fired TPP capacity,
ended 2014 with a loss of below 10 million marka ($5.8 million/5.1 million
euro), mainly due to the poor quality of the coal and lower output, but the
exact figure is not known yet, the company’s director Milenko Milidrag
said.
Milidrag added that RiTe Gacko plans to buy new equipment worth 15
million marka this year.
In September 2014, Czech energy group CEZ said
it has been awarded around 7.5 million euro in damages as part of successfully
completed arbitration proceedings over a breach by the counterparty of
obligations arising from the contract for the implementation of the Gacko TPP
project signed in 2007.
In 2006, an investment agreement was made between
the Serb Republic and CEZ, based on which a joint holding was to be formed with
Elektroprivreda RS for the purpose of reconstructing the existing Gacko power
plant, revitalizing the adjacent coal mine, and building a new TPP, Gacko
II.
The project was abandoned before the start of major capital
investments.
The Serb Republic is one of Bosnia's two autonomous
entities. The other one is the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Elektroprivreda
RS runs one more coal mining and thermal energy complex, RiTE Ugljevik, as well
as three hydro power stations.
RiTE Gacko's electricity output rose 4.24%
to 1,773 GWh in 2013 when the company turned to a net profit of 4.5 million
marka from a net loss of 4.9 million marka a year earlier.