Kosovo B power station

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Kosovo B power station is an operating power station of at least 680-megawatts (MW) in Obiliq, Pristina, Kosovo. It is also known as Kosovo power station.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Kosovo B power station	Obiliq, Pristina, Kosovo	42.69312, 21.056002 (exact)

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2: 42.69312, 21.056002

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Emergency/Backup
Unit 1	Operating	coal: lignite	340	subcritical	1983	False
Unit 2	Operating	coal: lignite	340	subcritical	1984	False

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Korporata Energjetike e Kosovës JSC [100%]	Korporata Energjetike e Kosovës JSC [100.0%]
Unit 2	Korporata Energjetike e Kosovës JSC [100%]	Korporata Energjetike e Kosovës JSC [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): domestic

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

The plant is a lignite-fired power station consisting of two units of 340 MW each, commissioned in 1983-1984. The units share a 183 metre tall chimney with 6.8 metre diameter at the top. The power plant is operated by Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK).

After conflict in Kosovo in the 1990s, the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) invited tenders for the rehabilitation of Kosovo power station unit B2. In June 2000, the contract was won by a consortium of RWE Power International.

The power plant produced 4.05 billion kWh of electricity in 2022 and 3.24 billion kWh in 2023, according to Kosovo Energy Corporation. Coal is supplied from the Sibovc Southwest coal mine.

Environmental compliance

Kosovo continues to breach the ceilings for all three pollutants (SO2, dust and NOX). Dust emissions have always been the country's biggest problem, but in 2022 SO2 and NOX emissions also increased significantly compared to 2021, while dust ones stayed almost the same. Kosova B's two units alone breached the national dust ceiling in 2022 by almost 4 times (3.9), releasing a total of 5,314 tonnes of dust into the atmosphere. Unit B1 alone emitted 6.75 times above its individual ceiling, making it the country's worst emitter. In 2023, Kosova B's two units alone breached the national dust ceiling by almost four times, releasing a total of 5,934 tonnes of dust into the atmosphere. Unit B2 alone emitted 9.15 times as much as its individual ceiling, making it the country's worst emitter.

2023 Energy Strategy and Draft NECP

In March 2023, Kosovo's new energy strategy included plans to refurbish both units of Kosovo B power station, in addition to at least one unit of Kosovo A power station by 2024. The Energy Strategy 2022-2031 document published in early 2023 outlined that the plant will be refurbished to maintain the security of supply and decrease emissions. The refurbishment will be carried out in two stages, and by the end of 2025, and respectively 2026, both units will operate in a more efficient, reliable mode, meeting mandatory emission standards of the Industrial Emissions Directive. Another source reported that KEK intended to install a system for cutting nitrogen oxide emissions to levels that would comply with European regulations.

Kosovo presented their draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) in July 2023 and the Energy Community Secretariat provided its comments and recommendations in December 2023. The draft NECP mirrors the 2023 Energy Strategy and foresees the refurbishment of both Kosovo B units by 2025 and 2026, respectively. The plan includes reference to the Industrial Emissions Directive, but there are no details of how the existing plants will meet the Directive's emission limit values from 1 January 2028. There are also no plans of how to achieve significant reductions on pollution from these plants under the Large Combustion Plants Directive, where Kosovo persistently fails to implement its National Emissions Reduction Plan (NERP).

The Energy Secretariat urged Kosovo to commit to phase out coal by 2050 in its final NECP. The final NECP had to be presented by June 30, 2024. By December 2025, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only two Energy Community Contracting Parties that had not yet adopted their final NECPs.

Refurbishment

The agreement to refurbish the units was signed in April 2023. KEK and General Electric signed an agreement on the modernization of the steam turbines, which is said to extend their service life by another 20 years. Work on modernization of turbine B2 was to begin in May 2024 until June, costing EUR 26.1 million. Works on the turbine B1 were to run from May to June 2025 and would cost EUR 30.3 million. As a result of this modernization, the capacity of the units was expected to increase by 4-17 MW, and after the completion of the works, there would be no need for frequent capital repairs, but only every 8 or 9 years.

According to reporting from March 2025, the Ministry of Energy had confirmed that Kosovo B would be refurbished, with investments in the refurbishment beginning in 2025 and shutdowns occurring until 2027. The refurbishment was expected to extend the power plant's lifespan by 20 years and increase its capacity by 80 MW.

Boiler works (2022-2023)

In December 2023, Polish company SBB Energy S.A. announced the completion of boiler dilation works on both units B1 and B2, carried out over more than 19 months. The project was described as preparatory infrastructure for further pro-environmental upgrades.

Unit B1

Works on the turbine modernization of Unit B1 were scheduled to begin in May 2025 and run until June 2025, at a cost of EUR 30.3 million, also financed from KEK's own funds. According to KEK's draft investment plan for 2026, Unit B1 was scheduled to undergo a planned overhaul from March to April 2026. The Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) raised concerns about the concurrent planned shutdown of Kosovo A Unit A5 during the same period, which it said could threaten security of electricity supply, and requested that KEK reschedule at least one of the outages.

In June 2025, KEK said Kosovo B Unit B1 had returned to operation after repair works that included repairing leaks in the boiler by replacing about 30 damaged pipes at different levels, cleaning ash deposits from the furnace and convection parts, repairing slag scrapers, and restoring the boiler's operating parameters.

Unit B2

In November 2025, it was reported that the modernization of Unit B2 had been successfully completed, with the total investment value stated at EUR 56.5 million. Following the refurbishment, Unit B2 was reported to generate 35 MW more electricity than before, with improved efficiency due to turbine modernization and associated equipment upgrades (turbine rehabilitation, replacement of generator seals, repairs to electrical switching equipment, replacement of the economizer, repairs to gas channels, and large-scale condenser tube replacements to improve efficiency, reliability, and system stability). The refurbishment was expected to reduce dust and nitrogen oxide emissions by 60%, extend the unit's operating life by 20 years, and reduce the frequency of major overhauls from every five years to every ten.

2026 works

In April 2026, Unit B1 began major modernization works, including the construction of electrostatic precipitators and a DeNOx system, with completion expected by early December 2026. The unit was not expected to return to operation until mid-December 2026. Concurrently, on 2 May 2026, KEK began a regular 30-day annual overhaul of Unit B2, scheduled to last until 3 June 2026, to install rotors of the supply pumps and carry out other planned maintenance. The B2 overhaul had originally been planned for March 2026 but was postponed to May at the request of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), which had raised concerns about security of supply. With both units simultaneously offline, KEK was relying on only two active production units across its entire fleet, providing approximately 230 MW. Increased electricity imports were expected throughout 2026 and into 2027; following an agreement between KEK and the Kosovo Electricity Supply Company (KESCO), import cost obligations were temporarily rescheduled with payments deferred to subsequent years, avoiding a tariff increase for 2026.

Emission control filters

In December 2025, Kosovo's Minister of Economy announced that the installation of emission control filters at the Kosovo B thermal power plant was set to begin, with the project reportedly supported by nearly EUR 90 million in European Union funding and aimed at significantly reducing dust and nitrogen oxide emissions in line with EU standards.

Financing

• The agreement to refurbish Unit B2 was signed with General Electric in April 2023 for EUR 26.1 million, and Unit B1 for EUR 30.3 million.
• In December 2025, emission control filter installation was reported to be supported by nearly EUR 90 million in European Union funding.
• Unit B1 turbine modernization: EUR 30.3 million, financed from KEK's own funds.

Rolling blackouts

In August 2022, Kosovo became the first European country to impose temporary grid disconnections on their customers since the war in Ukraine began causing energy security concerns globally. As units at both Kosovo A and Kosovo B power stations were offline for maintenance, output had been too low for the summer heatwave, and rolling blackouts were enforced. Initially, the country hoped to be bailed out by capacity support from neighbouring Albania. However, their hydropower-dominated system was also strained by prolonged drought in the Balkan region.

Incidents

In November 2024, eight people were arrested after an explosive charge damaged a water canal supplying Kosovo B and Kosovo A power station. Power generation was reportedly not affected.

Draft NECP 2023

Kosovo presented their draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) in July 2023 and the Energy Community Secretariat provided its comments and recommendations in December 2023. The draft NECP mirrors the 2023 Energy Strategy and foresees the refurbishment of at least one unit in TPP Kosovo A with increased net capacity. The refurbishment aims to serve energy security objectives, with putting the said units into strategic reserve from 2028 (although the Secretariat noted that the strategic reserve should only be used as a resort measure). The Secretariat highlights that it would be important to indicate the results of a cost-benefit analysis that was carried out to underpin such a policy decision, including the benefits and costs of alternative energy security solutions.

Furthermore, it was not clear how many or whether any units of TPP Kosovo A would remain operational after 2031. The draft NECP foresees the closure of the third unit after the rehabilitation of one or two other units (ie from 2025), and another part of the draft NECP outlines the decommissioning of one of the units with a net installed capacity of 116 MW by 2031. This would mean that a refurbished unit is closed down and the EUR 120 mln investment cost of the rehabilitation is to be written off by 2031. It would be important to clearly present the anticipated benefits and the costs of alternative energy security solutions, which could yield the same level of energy security.

The Energy Secretariat urged Kosovo to commit to phase out coal by 2050 in its final NECP.

As of May 2024, there was no further news on the refurbishment of the units. The final NECP had to be presented by June 30, 2024. As of December 2024, the final NECP had not yet been submitted. In March 2025, Kosovo adopted its first voluntary Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which referenced the forthcoming NECP as a key planning document, confirming that the final NECP had not yet been adopted at that point.

By December 2025, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only two Energy Community Contracting Parties that had not yet adopted their final NECPs.

There were no updates as of May 2026.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.