Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a candidate for EU membership since December 2022. It shares most of its border with EU- and Schengen-member Croatia and exchanged 63% of its trade with the EU in 2022, followed by Serbia, China and Türkiye. Since a bloody civil war between 1992 and 1995, the country is divided administratively and politically in two parts of similar size: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. Coal plays a crucial role in its energy mix, accounting in 2021 for over one half of total primary energy supply and 60.4% of its electricity production, followed by 36.7% hydro and 2.1% wind. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a net electricity exporter (to Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro). In 2022, it exported 7.3 TWh and imported 4.3 TWh.

 

General data		2022
Population	million	3.2
GDP	€ billion	23.3
Per capita GDP	€/person	7 200

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s total lignite resources are estimated at 5.3 billion tonnes, while the economically exploitable reserves are estimated at 2.3 billion tonnes. The largest coal deposits lie in the northeast of the country around Tuzla in the Kreka-Banovići coal basin. Bosnian lignite typically has a low calorific value of 9 100 kJ/kg (2 200 kcal/kg), a moisture content of 49%, an ash content of 13.8% and a high sulphur content (as-received values). In 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina produced 13.3 million tonnes of lignite. This was mostly used to generate electricity at power plants near to coal mines. In addition, 1.3 million tonnes of coal were imported in 2022. The larger part of this was transformed into coke oven coke, of which 403 thousand tonnes were re‑exported. Given the generally favourable coal market situation, the country also exported a record 832 thousand tonnes of lignite in 2022.

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

ELEKTROPRIVREDA BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE (EPBiH) is a state-owned utility company in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with seven subsidiary coal mining companies: Rudnici „Kreka“ (Šikulje and Dubrave opencast lignite mines and Mramor underground mine), RMU „Kakanj“ (Vrtlište opencast mine, Haljinići underground mine and Begići-Bištrani underground mine which opened in July 2013), RMU „Zenica“ (Stara Jama, Raspotočje and Stranjani underground mines), RMU „Breza“ (underground mines at Sretno and Kamenice), RMU „Đurđevik“ (Višća opencast brown coal mine and Đurđevik underground mine), and RMU „Abid Lolić“ and RU „Gračanica“ which operate opencast mines. The Livno (Tušnica) mine closed in 2015.

RMU BANOVIĆI operates two large opencast mines at Grivice and Turija, employing hydraulic shovels, draglines and 170‑tonne trucks to mine a 12-metre seam. The Čubrić opencast mine was closed in 2011. Opencast mines at Banovići have an average overburden ratio of 5 cubic metres per tonne. The company also operates the partly mechanised Omazići underground coal mine. The 350 MW Banovići power plant proposed by RMU BANOVIĆI in 2015 did not materialise and the government’s 2023-2030 draft energy and climate plan does not foresee any new coal-fired power plants.

Coal mines situated in northeast and central Bosnia serve the Tuzla and Kakanj power plants owned and operated by EPBiH. The 730 MW Tuzla power plant has three operational units and supplies heat to Tuzla and Lukavac as well as process steam to nearby industries and fly ash to the cement works at Lukavac. After the Bosnian war of 1992‑95, major overhauls were completed at the plant, including boiler upgrades and the installation of new electrostatic precipitators. The application of the EU Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), via its membership in the Energy Community, poses a challenge to the continuous operation of these units. Originally, it was planned to replace the existing units with two new 450 MW units. However, these units were not built due to political pressure, and all three units are threatened with premature closure. To meet EU pollution standards, the 230 MW Tuzla 6 unit is being refurbished in 2023 by DONGFANG ELECTRIC CORPORATION and DONGFANG BOILER GROUP, together with the Bosnian company ITC GROUP Zenica. The 100 MW Tuzla 1 unit might be converted to fire biomass. The 450 MW Kakanj power plant has three units and was similarly reconstructed and modernised after the war. In addition to the generation of electricity, the power plant supplies heat to the city of Kakanj as well as ash and slag to the Kakanj cement works. Similarly to the Tuzla plant, new units were planned but have not been built.

Republika Srpska

The Gacko coal mine and power plant in the south of the country as well as the Bogutovo Selo opencast mine and Ugljevik power plant in the east are operated by the state-owned ELEKTROPRIVREDA REPUBLIKE SRPSKE (EPRS). Other mines include Kamengrad mine and the Livno and Tušnica mines which supply Ugljevik power plant, although not all are in production. The Gacko and Ugljevik power plants, each of 300 MW, were commissioned in 1983 and 1985 respectively. In 2019, MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS and RUDIS of Slovenia completed a FGD retrofit project at Ugljevik power plant. Under a national emission reduction plan (NERP) agreed with the Energy Community, FGD at the Gacko plant will be needed from 2023. In the future, lignite for these plants could come from new opencast mines being developed by COMSAR ENERGY at Delići, Peljave-Tobut and Baljak and by EPRS subsidiary RUDNIK i TERMOELEKTRANA (RiTE) UGLJEVIK at Ugljevik-Istok. Plans to build an additional coal-fired power plant in the town of Ugljevik have been halted by a verdict of the District Court of Banja Luka annulling the environmental permit previously granted by
the Ministry of Energy and the mining authority of
Republika Srpska.

A new 300 MW lignite-fired power plant came online in September 2016 at Stanari in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plant was built by DONGFANG ELECTRIC CORPORATION and financed by the CHINA DEVELOPMENT BANK with a €350 million loan. To supply the power plant, Stanari coal mine at Doboj, with reserves of 108 million tonnes, has increased its annual output capacity from 0.6 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes with a loan from SBERBANK of Russia. The UK-registered, Serbian-owned EFT GROUP owns the Stanari mine and power plant.

The 2023-2030 national energy and climate plan foresees the closure of 410 MW of coal-fired power plants and the construction of 2 GW of renewable energy capacity, of which 1.5 GW would be solar PV. Some coal-fired power plants would switch to biomass co-firing.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Coal production, reserves and resources		2022
Brown coal and lignite saleable output	Mt	13.3
Brown coal and lignite reserves	Mt	2 264
Brown coal and lignite total resources	Mt	5 274

Saleable coal quality
Brown coal net calorific value	kJ/kg	11 000 ‑ 20 000
Brown coal ash content	% a.r.	24 ‑ 42
Brown coal moisture content	% a.r.	6.6‑18
Brown coal sulphur content	% a.r.	1.7‑3.85
Lignite net calorific value	kJ/kg	9 000 ‑ 12 500
Lignite ash content	% a.r.	13 ‑ 19.5
Lignite moisture content	% a.r.	32 ‑ 49
Lignite sulphur content	% a.r.	0.4 ‑ 4.0

Coal imports / (exports)		2022
Hard coal	Mt	1.3 / (0.0)
Brown coal and lignite	Mt	0.0 / (0.8)

Primary energy production		2021
Total primary energy production	Mtce	7.5
Brown coal and lignite production	Mt / Mtce	12.8 / 4.5

Primary energy consumption		2021
Total primary energy supply	Mtce	10.5
Hard coal consumption	Mt / Mtce	1.5 / 1.1
Brown coal and lignite consumption	Mt / Mtce	13.2 / 4.6

Power supply		2022
Total gross power generation	TWh	16.3
Net power imports (exports)	TWh	(3.0)
Total power supply	TWh	12.1
Power generation from lignite *	TWh	11.1
Lignite power generation capacity	MW net	1 888

Employment	2022
Direct in coal mining and generation	number	13 350

* 2021