Free energy in Kosovo at serious cost to population health

Skender Smajli, 64, spends 15 hours a day in a tube of oxygen due to asthma, which doctors say is the result of pollution that has been exposed for decades by the coal power plant.

Smajli, who takes 13 types of drugs to treat asthma, Parkinson's disease, and heart disease, lives in the village of Palaj, outside the city of Obilic, where two ill - state coal thermal power plants are located. He worked there and was exposed to brown coal for 26 years until 2001. He told Reuters news agency that most of his friends have died.

There was a lot of dust, fire and ash. I used to work at the hot tub. We had to clean the furnaces where coal was burned at high temperatures, with lots of smoke and ash. We didn't know each other because we were covered in dust. But we had to work to feed families, there was no other way”, Smajli says.

With only six cents per kilowatt/h, Kosovo has among the lowest energy prices in Europe, but environmentalists warn that the cost is much higher if public health costs are calculated.

In a 2019 report, the World Bank said air pollution causes about 760 victims annually in Kosovo.

“The value is extremely large. We see pollution of land, water and air, which is everlasting. As a result, the municipality of Obilic has about 30% more chronically ill cases than other Kosovo municipalities. We have 30% more mountain diseases than in other parts of Kosovo, as a result of environmental pollution”, says Dr. Haki Jashar, director of the clinic in Obilic.

Most of the six Western Balkan countries rely on coal production, which has been identified as among the main pollutants. The region is rich in linen, a low energy source that is otherwise known as brown coal. But as these countries try to join the EU, they will have to reduce coal consumption.

Kosovo has the fifth largest lignite reserves in the world, estimated at 12 billion tonnes and produces over 90% of its electricity in the two thermal power plants in Obilic. The European Commission called on Kosovo this month to stop relying solely on coal supply, which has health implications.

The future of the coal is on earth. It's not in use. The world has seen coal exploitation is not a major factor in economic development, and the economy does not develop with coal”, says environmental activist Besfort Kosova, from the Balkan Green Foundation, which works for clean energy.

According to foundation data, local residents live five years less because of air pollution. /voa