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The plan to build a new coal plant close to the capital Prishtina has been proposed since the early 2000s. The original proposal was a 2000 MW unit that would export energy, but plans faded due to lack of investors. New Kosovo was later planned to have a capacity of 600 MW, and has been promoted by the US government through the World Bank, which is interested in supporting the project. After Kosovo became a member of the [[EBRD]] in December 2012, the bank declared its interest in potentially financing the new plant in its first Kosovo Country Strategy.<ref>[http://bankwatch.org/sites/default/files/briefing-WesternBalkans-Coal-24Jan2014.pdf "Western Balkans: 'cheap' lignite plants built now will cost heavily later,"] Bankwatch, April 2014.</ref>
On November 23, 2015, Kosovo’s minister of economic development, Blerand Stavileci, announced the latest version of the plant. The new design reduces the size of the plant from 600MW to one 500MW unit.<ref name=st>Sanzillo, Tom and David Schlissel,[http://kosid.org/file/repository/The_Proposed_New_Kosovo_Power_Plant_Jan_2016_1.pdf "The Proposed New Kosovo Power Plant: An Unneccessary Unnecessary Burden at an Unreasonable Price,"] Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, pp.3-4, January 2016</ref> The plant is planned for operation in 2023.<ref>[http://mzhe-ks.net/repository/docs/Kosovo_Energy_Strategy_2017_-_26.pdf "Energy Strategy of the Republic of Kosovo 2017 - 2026,"] Kosovo government, March 2017, p 34</ref> In December 2017 Kosovo authorities signed a contract with US company Contour Global to build the 500 MW unit, at a cost of 1.3 billion euros. Construction is planned to start in late 2018 or early 2019.<ref>[http://www.gazetaexpress.com/en/news/kosovo-signs-contract-to-build-new-power-plant-173384/ "Kosovo signs contract to build new power plant,"] Gazeta Express, 20 December 2017</ref>
==History==
