Our goal is to provide a clean environment for our children and future generations. Where once there were polluters, today we’re building clean and green energy production facilities. The former coal deposits at the REK Oslomej coal mine are to be covered with 10 megawatt photovoltaic power plant in a few months. This new photovoltaic power plant is set to generate 15-17 GW hours per annum, enough to respond to the needs of about 2,800 households, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said.
PM Zaev alongside officials of the Power Plants of North Macedonia – ESM visited the site at the Thermal Power Plant – TPP Oslomej in Kichevo, where intensive construction works are currently underway for the first photovoltaic power plant of 10 MW owned by ESM.
“With the construction of this 10 MW power plant, the process of energy transition of REK Oslomej and the Kichevo region begins. ESM is currently working on a new study for another such 10 MW power plant. Recently, in June, agreements were signed for the construction of two photovoltaic power plants of 50 MW each, so a total of 120 MW of coal in Oslomej will be replaced with 120 MW of photovoltaic power plants. This is the first energy transition in the region away from a coal-fired power generation to clean energy,” Zaev pointed out.
In a public-private partnership, he added, ESM signed the agreements as public partner with Turkey’s Fortis Energy in one power plant and with Bulgaria’s Solarpro in the other. The private partners will pay a fee to ESM for the public-private partnership in an amount corresponding to 18 and 18.5 percent of the electricity produced per hour. “Calculations show that the state’s earnings would be around EUR 1.5 million a year. In addition, the investors have the obligation to hire one employee per MW, i.e. 100 employees from Oslomej in order to permanently provide for those fellow citizens.
A study on a just transition is currently underway, which includes all analyses about the opportunities and the future of the employees. This shows that we care about everyone and that a solution is needed for everyone,” the PM said. According to him, the project is important not only from the aspect of energy values, but also from a social and ecological aspect due to the fact that installing photovoltaic panels over 15 hectares of the existing mine in the area of REK Oslomej means land re-cultivation, which is of great importance for the environment.
ESM Director General Vasko Kovachevski pointed out that the construction of the Oslomej photovoltaic power plant is the beginning of an initiative that will significantly increase electricity production from renewable sources, especially from the sun.
Source:MIA
