Complaint submitted to Energy Community over power purchase agreement for Kosova e Re power plant

Prishtina and international non-governmental organizations have submitted an official complaint to the Energy Community dispute settlement mechanism challenging the legality of the power purchase agreement for the planned Kosova e Re coal power project, which is currently awaiting ratification by the Kosovo parliament, Bankwatch announces.

The complaint was submitted by Balkan Green Foundation, GAP Institute, Group for Legal and Political Studies, INDEP and CEE Bankwatch Network. The Energy Community Secretariat announced last June that several elements of the agreement were tantamount to illegal state aid.

The Prishtina Government selected the American company ContourGlobal as the investor in the 500-MW Kosova e Re plant at a tendering procedure in 2015.

The complaint alleges that the 20-year power purchase agreement, signed by the Kosovar government with ContourGlobal in December 2017, fails to comply with the Energy Community Treaty rules on state aid because it provides ContourGlobal a range of benefits that give it an unfair advantage over other energy producers.

As Bankwatch writes, The contract would also put an unbearable strain on the state budget and Kosovar electricity consumers as it guarantees that a state-owned company will buy all the electricity generated by ContourGlobal at a “target price” of EUR 80/MWh – much higher than current electricity prices in the region.

Energy Community Secretariat Viena

Energy Community

TPP Kosova e Re

Balkan Green Foundation

GAP Institute

Group for Legal and Political Studies

INDEP

CEE Bankwatch Network

ContourGlobal

power purchase