Reuters: Kosovo paying cheaply for free coal energy

Smajli lives in a village outside the city of Obilic, home to two coal-powered power plants partly blamed for the planet's heating emissions, causing climate change - the subject of global COP26 negotiations that began on October 31st in Glasgoya, Scotland.

Recalling his days at work before he was forced to withdraw because of his limited ability, Smajli said he and his colleagues “were to clean coal-burning ovens at high temperatures, with lots of dust and hi”.

Besim Morina, a pulmonologist who has treated Smajli, said he was diagnosed mainly with chronic pulmonary obstructural diseases, the clans came from his work at the Kosovo Energy Corporation thermal power plant (KEK).

The majority of my friends (at the plant) have died from it”, said Smajli, who also has Parkinson's disease.

Kosovo boasts one of the cheapest electricity tariffs in Europe, with only six cents per kilowatt hours (kWh). But environmentalists say the current cost is much higher when the effects on public health of older coal power plants are taken into account.

In a 2019 report, the World Bank said air pollution kills about 760 people every year in Kosovo.

The Obilic municipality has about 30 per cent more patients with chronic respiratory diseases and 30 per cent more cases of malignant tumors (cancer) than other parts of Kosovo as a result of environmental pollution”, said Haki Jashar, director of the city's ambulance service.

The six Western Balkan countries rely heavily on coal for energy, but will have to reduce that dependence dramatically as a condition for membership in the European Union for which Kosovo aspires, Reuters reports.

The region is rich in linen, a soft coal, whose relatively low energy content translates into toxic pollution when it burns. Kosovo has the fifth largest lignite reserves in the world of 12-14 billion tonnes, official figures show.

Earlier this month, the European Commission demanded that Kosovo, which produces more than 90 per cent of its electricity in the two Obilic thermal power plants, give up its <x0-> dependence on dangerous energy supply to health” from coal.

On the other hand, the state-owned KEK company has not provided any comment. Environmentalists say Kosovo will need EU financial support to return to cleaner energy, Reuters follows.

“The future of coal is underground”, said Besfort Kosova, from Balkan Green Foundation. “According to our data, people (living in contaminated areas) lose about five years of life due to air pollution”. /kosovo.energy/