Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 46 2021

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Japan’s Mitsubishi interested in

building gas-fuelled power plant at

North Macedonia’s REK Bitola

JAPAN
A delegation of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation project.
has expressed interest in participating in the Mitsubishi’s representatives also expressed
construction of a 250 MW gas-fuelled power readiness to actively participate in the construc-
plant near the REK Bitola thermal power plant tion of other power plants, which are planned
in North Macedonia, local media reported on under the North Macedonia’s ‘green strategy’,
November 17. TV21 reported.
The country’s biggest thermal power plant The Mitsubishi delegation said that in the
complex REK Bitola, which uses coal from the past three years, the company has invested about
adjacent mine, has been the most important €2bn in the construction of gas power plants.
energy producer in the country for the last 40 They guarantee the commissioning of the gas
years. However, it already reached the final years power plant in REK Bitola by the beginning of
of its life, while the available quantities of lignite 2026, according to the article.
in the mines are decreasing gradually. Addition- Construction of a gas-fuelled power plant
ally, the quality of lignite is getting worse. with capacity of 200 MW to 450 MW is also
“Given the lifespan of REK Bitola, as well as planned, as an alternative for replacing REK
reduced exploitation opportunities of lignite, it is Bitola, taking into account that the construction
clear that we can expect the closure of REK Bito- of the gas network in the country is advancing at
la’s units, one by one by around 2030. The closure an accelerated pace. The planned investment is
of the first block can be expected in 2025,” the expected to be implemented in the next two to
government said earlier this year five years.
The delegation from Mitsubishi met repre- North Macedonia is executing an ambitious
sentatives of North Macedonia’s state-run power national energy strategy, which foresees a 66%
producer ESM and REK Bitola in order to exam- reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the
ine the possibilities for the implementation of the energy sector compared to 1990 by 2030.™

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