The first snowfall of the winter has not only caused traffic disruptions but also led to significant problems in Serbia’s energy system. According to Dragoslav Ljubičić, the chief trustee of the “Nezavisnost” trade union at the Nikola Tesla thermal power plant (TENT), for two consecutive nights, the plant has not been producing enough electricity, requiring large imports. Former director of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Miroslav Tomašević, warned that this situation could mirror the 2021 crisis, where approximately 130,000 households were left without power due to a major incident at TENT.
Ljubičić claims the power system is in such disrepair that TENT is struggling to cope. “The system is so damaged that TENT can’t manage it. I’ve worked in this industry long enough to know that even worse weather conditions in the past didn’t lead to this many breakdowns. This is national betrayal,” he said. While videos circulating on social media suggest that mud is being used in the plant instead of coal, Ljubičić clarifies that the issue is poor-quality coal. Currently, TENT’s coal storage areas are full, with no space to unload new supplies, and for the past 12 hours, no coal has been delivered to Obrenovac.
According to Biljana Komnenić, the director of “Elektrodistribucija Srbije,” approximately 68,000 households in Serbia are currently without power. Ljubičić explains that while electricity production is not the issue, the problem lies in distribution, with imports needed to cover the shortfall. “We’ve been importing electricity every day. When I saw the amount we imported last night, I was stunned. Our entire hydro sector has only accumulated 250 megawatts per hour. So where is the Danube now, which almost flooded Budapest? Someone needs to be held accountable for this chaos,” he said.
The situation worsened on the evening of the first snow, when the country imported 1,790 megawatts of electricity. At 10 p.m., the price of electricity was 120.05 euros per megawatt hour, according to data from the Energyflux website, an app of the Electric Grid of Serbia. This situation is reminiscent of the December 2021 crisis when the poor quality of coal caused almost all production units at TENT to stop, resulting in widespread power outages for 130,000 households. The cause of that breakdown was the wet, poorly prepared coal that had been mined from the Kolubara Basin.
Tomašević attributes the ongoing problems to the lack of preparedness in the energy sector, criticizing the return of personnel who had been replaced after the 2021 disaster. “If you bring back the same people who were replaced after a previous disaster, how can you expect anything to change?” he questioned. Wet coal, which absorbs moisture from snow or rain, cannot be properly processed by the boilers at TENT, reducing its efficiency. This necessitates the use of fuel oil to make up for the lost energy.
Despite these issues, EPS claims the energy system is stable and assured the public that there is no need to worry. They stated, “Despite the challenging weather conditions, snowfall, low temperatures, and difficult work in the mines, Elektroprivreda Srbije is providing sufficient electricity. Electricity imports and exports are part of optimizing the production system, based on market conditions, while maintaining reserves for the winter consumption peak and the company’s profitability.”
At the time of publication, the Ministry of Mining and Energy had not responded to questions regarding the stability of the energy system or the import of electricity.
