The announcement of the modernization of Block 3 of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant, which would generate energy by burning wood waste from forestry and the wood industry, or RDF/SRF fuel, worried ecologists.
This is the waste obtained by processing and pressing certain types of municipal solid and industrial waste.
They believe that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) does not have fuel produced from municipal waste, and that RDF imported from Europe will be consumed in this block.
The reason for concern was expressed after the Public Company Elektroprivreda BiH signed an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on September 8th. This marked the beginning of the modernization project of Block 3 of the Thermal Power Plant in Tuzla, worth 50 million euros.
Elektroprivreda BiH admits that they do not yet know the possibilities of Unit 3 of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant, nor how developed the biomass market is in BiH.
“We started a project to grow biomass (fast-growing willow) in the area of the Tuzla Canton (TC) on the neglected mining areas of the Kreka coal mine and the Djurdjevik brown coal mine in order to see how it is normally done and which biomass is suitable for this climate,” says the director of Elektroprivreda BiH Admir Andelija.
“In the TC, the first ecological landfill in the municipality of Zivinice is currently being completed. The construction project also foresees the production of RDF and SRF fuel. If that project is brought to an end, of course we will examine such a possibility. We see it as an opportunity for waste disposal. Whether it will be done on block 3, we will see,” says Andelija.
However, Denis Zisko, from the environmental association Aarhus Center in BiH, pointed out to Radio Free Europe (RSE) that, after looking into the project’s technical documentation, he noticed that Block 3 could also use RDF/SRF fuel.
“Our opinion is that the biomass was just a cover to justify the reconstruction of it, and that in the end most of the energy that will be used in that block will actually be waste, that is, RDF that will be imported from Europe,” he assesses.
“The European directives will no longer allow the amount of materials required for RDF to be incinerated, but it will have to be proven that these materials have been recycled, as they are recyclable materials.”
At the same time, Elektroprivreda BiH states that they plan to plant fast-growing willow on about 1.600 hectares of available land on abandoned mines. About 12 hectares have already been planted.
“One of the solutions for the missing areas is subcontracting with local farmers, where Elektroprivreda BiH would distribute the seedlings and take the income from the willows,” mentionedNatasa Kovacevic, from the Bankwatch network, a network that brings together organizations from Central and Eastern Europe that deal with issues environmental protection and human rights, Radio Slobodna Evropa writes.
E.Dz.
