China Development Bank pledges loan for Ugljevik 3 Power Station

In January 2015, China National Electric Engineering Company signed an MOU with the government of Republic of Srpska to develop the Ugljevik 3 power station. Also, in 2015, China Development Bank agreed to provide a $782 million loan to Comsar Energy Republika Srpska — a joint venture company between Comsar Energy (90%, a Cyprus based private company) and RiTE Ugljevik (10%, a subsidiary of Bosnian Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske) — for the construction of the Ugljevik III Power Station. The pledge was made through a memorandum of understanding, but it is unclear if a loan was ever signed. This station was set to be an expansion of the existing Ugljevik power plant (300 MW), and planned to provide two additional 300 MW generators. The station's development had been in the planning phase since 2012. The planned start date was in 2014, and the planned completion date was in 2016. However, various disputes over the environmental permit of the new plant has led to the project’s delay, and in May 2019 Cosmar Energy decided to terminate all existing relationships in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including the Ugljevik plant, although some reporting suggests that Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske may purchase Cosmar's equity stake in the operation. On June 18, 2021, CNEEC held a video conference with Sunningwell International LTD to sign the EPC contract of Ugljevik III 2*350MW Coal-fired Power Plant and the construction project for a coal mine with an output of 4.2 million tons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, on January 18, 2022, it was confirmed that CDB will not provide any loan to the project because of President Xi's commitment to stop building coal factories.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 乌戈列维克燃煤电站. The Bosnian project title is Termoelektrana Ugljevik.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

11