TENT A gets modern facility for desulfuring of smoke gases – Investment of around EUR 215 million, loan in Japanese yen

The Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) has gotten a modern facility for the desulfuring of smoke gases, and at the handing over ceremony, it was said that it was the biggest ecological project to be realized in a thermal power plant in Europe at that moment.

As the minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, added, the facility has been built through a synergy of Serbian and Japanese experts and the implementation of modern technologies, according to the website of the Government of Serbia.

She emphasized that “from today, the energy system of Serbia can boast a thermal power plant which, by its ecological standards, can stand shoulder to shoulder with modern thermal power plants anywhere in Europe.” According to her, sulfur-dioxide emissions will be reduced 30 times, and the emissions of powdered matters will be considerably reduced, “which means that the air for the citizens of Obrenovac, the surrounding places and Belgrade will be of much higher quality.”

Djedovic Handanovic pointed out that said facility, in which close to EUR 215 million had been invested, didn’t only have an ecological significance, but also an energy significance.

She said that TENT A, along with TENT B, on which the desulfuring facility would be completed in 2025, produced around a half of electrical energy in Serbia and added that those energy facilities were crucial to a stable supply of the citizens and the economy.

– By reducing the emission of harmful gases, we have extended the life cycle of the thermal power plant and ensured a secure production, and we will sorely need that energy while we are investing in wind farms, solar power plants and new hydro power plants, some of which are already being built, whereas others are part of our future plans – the minister said.

Djedovic Handanovic pointed out that the project of desulfuring at TENT A was an important part of the bilateral cooperation with Japan, whereby she expressed a conviction that, in the future, it could be expanded with new initiatives.

– We are already having talks with the Government of Japan and the JICA, which are interested in the construction of the reversible hydro power plant Bistrica. What TENT A is for Serbia today, in the sense of the stability of supply, the RHPP Bistrica will be in the coming decades – she announced and added that, for that reason, “for that new project, we are looking for reliable partners in the world which can secure the technology, favorable financing, efficiency, as well as the highest ecological standards.”

The minister of environmental protection, Irena Vujovic, estimated that the project was very significant for the people of Belgrade, especially considering that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency data, the thermal power plants in Obrenovac were among the biggest emitters of polluting matters.

The minister explained that, thanks to this investment, powdered matters would be reduced to the European standards, and the annual sulfur-dioxide emissions will be reduced multiple times. It will be turned into gypsum, which is in line with the principle of circular economy.

The parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs of Japan, Yasushi Hosaka, expressed his satisfaction that it was the first project in Serbia to be realized with the proceeds of a loan in Japanese yen.

– This project is important for improving the green transition in Serbia and we will continue providing support on its path toward decarbonization – he said and expressed his wish for the project to become a symbol of friendship of Serbia and Japan, as had been the case with the yellow buses which had ended their twenty-year operations the year before.

The acting director of EPS, Dusan Zivkovic, said that the most modern equipment by renowned manufacturers had been installed in the facility.

Zivkovic explained that it was a wet smoke gas desulfuring technology which used lime and that a byproduct of the procedure was gypsum and added that an annual production of gypsum of close to 250 million tons was expected.

– The same kind of facility is also being built at TENT B. With the completion of that project at the end of next year, we will definitely put an end to the issue of the emission of harmful gases on EPS’s big blocks at TENT and the TPP Kostolac, which produce close to 90% of electrical energy from thermal power plants – he said.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine Republike Srbije

Japan International Cooperation Agency - JICA Tokyo

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Ministry of Environmental Protection

Government of Japan

JICA

EPS

Elektroprivreda Srbije

Dubravka Đedović Handanović

Irena Vujović

Yasushi Hosaka

Dušan Živković

TPP Nikola Tesla A

TENT A

TENT B

thermal power plants in Obrenovac

RHPP Bistrica

smoke gas desulfuring facility

sulfur dioxide emission

powdered matter emission

circular economy

green transition