Thermal power plants "Nikola Tesla" have always been an example in business operations not only in Serbia but in the region as well, and that is also in the field of environment protection- said Mr. Đorđi Biljanovski,

Deputy Manager of EA TENT, emphasizing that the biggest factory for producing electrical energy in the Balkans started to apply the regulations of European Union in some fields well before the legal obligations.

The most important projects done from 2002 and which are planned to be finished in the next five to six years are the reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators, introduction of new ash removal system, transport and ash disposal, and reduction of nitrogen oxides as well.

Change of waste water management system, flue gas desulphurization, full monitoring of emissions as well as the application of environment protection management system in compliance with the standards ISO: 14001 are among these projects.

Biljanovski points out that 70 million euros was invested in the projects of environment protection in the last ten years in EA TENT, and the plan is to invest 440million euros more in order to finish all the planned ecological projects till 2017 within EA TENT. As for the investments so far, most of it were donations.

The biggest project is a new system for collection, transport and disposal of ash and slag in TENT B, worth 32 million euros out of which 28 million euros was EU donation through European agency for reconstruction. As Deputy Manager of EA TENT says, besides decreased wind erosion and prevention of ash scattering during windy days, the new technology in which the ratio between ash and water is proportional 1:1, and before it used to be 1:10, decreases the negative effect on the quality of water near the disposal site.

The sufficient information is that the quantity of water which goes into the soil is reduced from 20 million tones to 1,7 million tones per year, and therefore lifetime of the disposal site is extended. The use of ash for commercial purposes is also important, and from October 2009 the delivery to cement plants such as "Lafarz" , " Holcim"and "Ttan" started.

We also plan to do a project of changing the technology system for collection, transport and disposal of ash and slag in TENT A till 2015, and this investment would be around 45 million euros- Biljanovski explained.

Mr.Biljanovski points out that the modernization of electrostatic precipitators would be one of the most important works. He says that the electrostatic precipitator in TPP "Kolubara" Unit A5 is reconstructed and its performance is within valid standards, this was also done in all Units in TENT A except in the Unit A3.

Emission of solid particles is reduced to the limits prescribed by European standards which is 50 miligrams per meter cubed- says Biljanovski. Around 36 million euros is invested in the reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators on Units TENT A1, A2, A4, A5, A6 and TEK A5 , and the level of dust emission in EA TENT is reduced by 80 % compared to 2002.

The reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators was done during the revitalization of Unit A6 which was completed last year, in what 7,6 million euros was invested, and the reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators in A3 is planned to be done till 2014. This unit was renewed in 2003 and it was the first in the process of revitalization and the request of that time was to fit into domestic standards because there was no possibility for something more. Now we are going to adjust it to EU standards.

Deputy Manager of TENT says that the reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators, total power of 620 MW, on Unit 2 in TENT B2 is being done at the moment. This project is also being realized in cooperation with EU, because EU donation is 5,5 million euros while EPS will allocate 4 million euros for this project. After that this electrostatic precipitator will work according to EU standards.

For next year Biljanovski announces modernization of Unit B1, which is the second biggest thermal power unit in the region. Tender is in progress and it will be known very soon who got the job of modernization of the electrostatic precipitator.

As far as our interlocutor says, solving problems of NOx, that is nitrogen oxides, in unit TENT A5 with primary measures: replacement of the fuelling system, coal burning unit and the addition of tertiary air will start next year. If this project succeeds it will be applied on other units. In case the primary measures are not enough then more expensive procedure will be applied. However it is still early to talk about the result.

Construction of FGD facilities on four units in TENT A is the most current project being prepared in Obrenovac. It is planned to start with the realization of this project next year. This is both the most valuable and the most expensive project of environment protection in the Balkans.

Inter- state agreement between Serbia and Japan regarding this project worth 250 million euros was signed on 8th of March- explained Biljanovski. Conceptual design and feasibility study are in final phase, and around the middle of May a proposal for loan agreement regarding the help from the government of Japan to the Republic of Serbia for this ecological project was done.

Terms of loan are very favorable because deferred payment period is five years, and duration of paying off the loan is 15 years. Interest rate is 0,6 percent and that is more than favorable loan. According to our interlocutor, time limit for withdrawal of the credit facilities is 10 years.

That is quite enough time for this project because according to our laws we have to finish it by 2017 and according to EU regulations by 2018- highlighted Deputy Manager of EA TENT. Tender procedure for selection of a consultant is underway and after the selection the consultant has to prepare a tender together with the team of experts of TENT, EPS and domestic scientific institutions. It is planned to launch the tender by June next year and it will have an international character and will be open.

According to Biljanovski's words, TENT is looking for similar way of solving funding for other ecological projects as well.

Projects for environment protection do not contribute to profitability of the company but Biljanovski says that investments in ecological projects are necessary due to legal obligations and also efforts of EA TENT to be socially responsible company.

To ensure that facilities of electrostatic precipitators work in adequate way in order to reduce emission of nitrogen oxides and to provide proper operation of ash transport you must have a facility which will be absolutely able to work according to the designed parameters. We got this effect of energy efficiency indirectly because we did the facility reconstruction and we increased the efficiency. In this way we decreased financially costly procedure.

TENT is dedicated to the idea of environment protection and it plans to realize all the projects anticipated in the program document " The Green Book of EPS". According to domestic legislation those obligations must be fulfilled by 2015 and according to the Contract of Energy Community of southeastern Europe the deadline is by 2017. Although many doubt the fulfillment of obligations we have, Biljanovski says that all deadlines must be met.

Ecological requirements must be met, that's for sure, because that is also one of the conditions to work when the market is open; and we should not forget that we are signatories of the Contract of Energy Community of southeastern Europe which regulates these requirements- said Biljanovski.