Can Bosnia and Herzegovina's power sector function without miners?

(Patria) - Although until a month ago we constantly heard in public about mines as a huge cost to the country, and about the losses and debts of mines, which now amount to more than a billion KM, it is now quite certain that mines are the future of the power sector for at least another twenty years. The question is, could the power sector function without miners and mines at all?

Both the management of Elektroprivreda BiH and the Miners' Unions in the Federation of BiH have agreed that after 16 years of the concern's existence, it was a complete failure in its current form. It incurred losses of over a billion and two hundred million KM.

"We see that some people are saying today that they gave up on the mines too early. Those hands were never really on the mines, in the true sense of the word," points out Sinan Husić, president of the Miners' Union of the Federation of BiH.

"The mere fact that the mines today owe one billion and 200 million KM in their own obligations, and they entered the consolidation process with 36 million KM and have not operated profitably in a single year, we can say that this process has not yielded results," states the Director-General of Elektroprivreda BiH, Sanel Buljubašić.

And before the concern even came to life, the mines were exploited for years without any plan or strategy, and electricity was given away very cheaply.

"So, we will have to understand that we will have to renovate our mines. That we will invest in new, modern machinery. We will have to employ young people because we have a problem in our mines with an aging workforce, with outdated machinery. Better organization is also important, and it is important to regulate the relationship between Elektroprivreda and the mines as dependent companies," emphasizes Sabid Zekan from the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Civil Engineering at the University of Tuzla.

Now, almost everyone is on the same page, including the management of EP, the miners, and mining experts, that mines and miners are the future of the power sector for the next twenty years.

"We now have information from the parent company and the relevant ministry that coal has no alternative for the next twenty, thirty years. In that regard, for everything that is promising, where there is economic justification for exploitation, they promise that equipment renewal will be undertaken. We are moving towards hiring new staff," says Senad Sejdić, president of the Miners' Union of the "Kreka" Mine.

"The mine operates as the state wants. We are a state-owned enterprise. The state is the one that appoints managers, directors, and mine administrations. So, the state cannot tell us that the mines are the ones making losses. The state is consciously creating losses, because they are the owners of the mines," states Damir Brašnjić, president of the "Mramor" Miners' Union.

According to the promises of the Director-General of Elektroprivreda, investments in mines are increasingly certain, especially in surface mining.

"...Which we must maintain at full capacity and develop surface mines until 2050 because we are destined to produce 80 percent of our electricity from coal," emphasizes Buljubašić.

Our country is a signatory to the Green Agenda Declaration, by which it committed to phasing out coal by 2050 and increasing renewable energy sources. It is already quite certain that this is an almost impossible mission.

"We will have very fierce competition between renewable energy sources, which are already relatively cheap. However, that energy, when we talk about solar panels, can provide daily energy. The problem is with baseload energy provided by coal or possibly nuclear energy. We do not have nuclear energy, so we will have to rely on coal for many years to come, I am sure, fifty years or more," emphasizes Sabid Zekan.

Energy problems are numerous, the relationship between expertise and science is neglected, and we have left solutions to populism. Only with a clear strategy and goal for the next fifty years can this society progress and have stable energy. How is it that we alone do not see that every country nurtures its own energy and builds its own independence and self-reliance through energy.