North Macedonia’s Go-Slow on Greener Energy is Costing Lives, 6 April 2022

Forty years have passed since the first unit of the Bitola coal-fired power plant was put into operation in what is now North Macedonia.

One of two such plants in the country, they have provided 50 to 70 per cent of its electricity production over these years.

But, alongside generating electricity, the Bitola power plant has also been generating air pollution on a scale rarely seen in Europe...

Dust and sulphur dioxide emissions from the power plant are consistently higher than emissions’ legal limits. In the past few years, the plant has frequently been ranked among Europe’s top five emitters of pollutants. In addition, coal ash, a by-product of the electricity production process, is deposited in the open near the plant, and was found to contain heavy metals whose radioactive levels also exceed allowed limits.

Locals have voiced concern many times...

NGOs working on health issues publish alarming figures about the number of pollution-related diseases in the region, and citizens and businesses are coming together to install air-quality sensors...