Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s National Emissions Reduction Plan (NERP) currently covers seven coal-fired units and one smaller plant using heavy fuel oil. Another three coal plants are subject to limited lifetime derogations (so-called ‘opt-outs’), allowing them to run for a total of 20,000 hours between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023, after which they either need to close or comply with the emission limit values for new plants under the Industrial Emissions Directive.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is not complying with the pollution ceilings for any of the required pollutants: sulphur dioxide, dust or nitrogen oxides.
The most serious breaches are for sulphur dioxide.In 2023, just as in 2022, sulphur dioxide emissions from the NERP plants in BiH reached more than eight times as much as allowed – 181,807 tonnes, compared to the ceiling of 22,195 tonnes.
The worst offender in BiH and regionally in 2023 in terms of absolute emissions was Ugljevik, whose desulphurisation equipment clearly did not operate, despite an operating permit having been obtained in November 2021. Its 2023 emissions of 97,189 were higher than those in 2022 (85,526 tonnes) and 2021 (86,774 tonnes). Since 2018, the plant’s sulphur dioxide emissions have increased overall.
Dust emissions from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NERP plants amounted to 4,647 tonnes – 2.7 times as much as the allowed ceiling. This was slightly less than those in 2022 (4,892 tonnes) and represented a decrease from the 2021 peak of 6,040 tonnes, but was still massively more than the 2,686 tonnes emitted in 2020.
Nitrogen oxides emissions from BiH’s NERP coal units in 2023 totalled 11,752 tonnes, compared to the allowed ceiling of 7,371 tonnes. This represented a slight drop compared to 11,944 tonnes in 2022. Nevertheless, NOx emissions in 2023 were 1.6 times as high as the ceiling – higher than 2022 when they were 1.3 times as high, because the NERP ceiling for NOx drops steadily each year. In 2023, Gacko and Kakanj 7 had the highest exceedance for NOx, with 2.4 times as much as allowed.
In addition, two of the units that were under the ‘opt-out’ regime, Tuzla 4 and Kakanj 5, used up their 20,000 hours during 2022 after which they continued operation. This is another clear breach of the Energy Community Treaty which the Federation of BiH Parliament tried to circumvent by voting in favour of a decision to move these two plants to the NERP and thus allow them to continue operation, although this is not allowed by the Treaty acquis. The country was found in breach of the Treaty by the Ministerial Council in December 2023.
Power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina
