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Another EPS subsidiary, [[OPM Kostolac]], currently three open-pit mines -- the [[Drmno mine]], the [[Cirikovac mine]] and the [[Klenovnik mine]] -- which supply the Kostolac A and B power plants.<ref>Elektroprivreda Srbije, [http://www.eps.rs/onama/opm_kostolac.htm "About Us: Basic Data: Facilities for coal production, processing and transport OPM "Kostolac""], Elektroprivreda Srbije website, accessed July 2011.</ref>
==Coal expansion deals with China==
In 2009, China president Hu Jintao and Serbia president Boris Tadic signed a 15-year agreement for China to invest $1.25 billion in Serbia’s infrastructure and energy. [[OPM Kostolac]], a unit of Serbian power monopoly [[Elektroprivreda Srbije]], plans to revitalize two 350-megawatt power blocs and build a desulphurization unit, rail tracks and a new port on the Danube river, the first phase of a billion-dollar project that would also lead to the construction of a new power bloc and expansion of its coal mines. Two existing plants at the [[TPP Kostolac Power Plant]], with respective installed capacity of 100 megawatts and 200 megawatts, will be decommissioned in 2017 and 2024 and replaced with the new one. Kostolac currently relies on the [[Drmno mine]], which has around 350 million tons of remaining coal reserves, and is considering acquiring the nearby Dubravica field, which contains around 400 million tons of recoverable coal reserves out of an estimated deposit of 1 billion tons.<ref name=gf>Gordana Filipovic, [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/serbian-mine-sees-chinese-vattenfall-agreements-for-upgrades.html "Serbian Mine Sees Chinese, Vattenfall Agreements for Upgrades"] Bloomberg, Nov 1, 2011.</ref>
The new power bloc is expected to produce 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year based on 7,000 operating hours, compared with the total national output of 35 billion kilowatt-hours. The first phase will take 30 months to complete. The second phase, to start in 2014, will be worth around $700 million and involves a new 350-megawatt bloc with a lifespan through 2060 and the expansion of the [[Drmno mine]] coal deposit field. The new bloc should start generating power between 2014 and 2020.<ref name=gf/>
On October 20, 2011, Serbia's power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) said it had signed a preliminary deal with a Chinese consortium to jointly build a 744 megawatt coal-fired unit at an estimated cost of more than 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion). Under the deal, a consortium that includes [[China Environmental Energy Holdings]] and [[Shenzhen Energy]], and EPS, will form a joint venture for the future project in the southwestern town of Obrenovac, part of its [[TPP Nikola Tesla Power Plant]] power complex. An upgrade of the Radeljevo coal mine will feed the plant. The deal is the latest in a series of energy projects agreed over the past two years with China, along with Russia, when Serbia faced international isolation in the 1990s.<ref>Maja Zuvela, [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/20/us-serbia-china-power-idUSTRE79J6O420111020 "Serbia, China sign deal for coal plant, mine"] Reuters, Oct. 20, 2011.</ref>
On November 1, 2011, ''Bloomberg'' reported that [[Kostolac]] expects the Export-Import Bank of China to approve a $344 million loan soon to finance coal plant upgrades in 2012. Kostolac also wants to win a two-year accord with Germany’s Vattenfall Europe AG to provide consultancy services and help Kostolac improve open-pit operations.<ref name=gf/>
==Contact details==
