STA, 27 January 2021 - The city council of Šoštanj voted on Wednesday against coincineration of waste at the TEŠ thermal power plant. TEŠ parent company boss said before the vote that the project would not go forward if the local community opposed it. Meanwhile, the Environmental Agency is yet to decide whether it will issue an environmental approval.
The council believes emissions produced by coincineration would be the most problematic aspect of the project estimated at EUR 6-10 million.
Two neighbouring municipalities, Velenje and Šmartno ob Paki, are yet to vote on their positions about the project.
In the hours-long debate, several Šoštanj councillors called on TEŠ and its owner, the state-owner power utility HSE, to act in a socially responsible way.
HSE CEO Viktor Vrečar said at the session that coal technologies would slowly become obsolete and that new solutions would have to be found. The Šalek valley does not have wind or water energy potential, while a solar plant to substitute TEŠ would cost EUR 5 billion, he said.
Vrečar said the project plans had been based on best practices abroad, adding that 22 thermal power plants in Germany had environmental permits to coincinerate.
Two opposing opinions on the impact of coincineration were also presented to the council. A report commissioned by TEŠ says that coincineration of solid recovered fuel (SRF) would not worsen air quality, while a review of the same report claims the opposite.
Moreover, Cvetka Ribarič Lasnik of the Celje Institute for Environment and Spatial Planning, who also drafted the review, said that Slovenia did not produce enough SRF for a coincineration facility and would have to import it.
Meanwhile, Šaleško Eko Gibanje, a local environmental group, accused the city of non-transparency in this project, which Mayor Darko Menih denied.
