Coal-fired thermal power plants remain a substantial source of baseload electricity across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and North Macedonia. In these systems, lignite mining and related logistics form part of the operating cost base that supports generation. The economics of coal supply chains, including tonnes mined, unit costs, strip ratios and rehabilitation liabilities, are increasingly relevant alongside power-plant heat rates.
Serbia’s lignite output and mine expansion
Serbia’s coal system is both large and still expanding in some basins. In 2022, EPS extracted 34.6 million tonnes of lignite from the Kolubara and Kostolac basins, with overburden-to-coal ratios of 2.7 cubic metres per tonne in Kolubara and 4.0 cubic metres per tonne in Kostolac. In 2023, despite operational difficulties that reduced output temporarily, Kolubara delivered around 22 million tonnes, supplying the Nikola Tesla A and B, Kolubara A and Morava plants that together generate more than half of Serbia’s electricity.
For Kostolac B, the Drmno mine produced 9.2 million tonnes in 2023. Drmno is being expanded toward a 12 million-tonne annual capacity, and by late December 2025 it reached a new annual record above 9.9 million tonnes. EPS financial data show coal production in the first half of 2024 at 14.48 million tonnes, up seven percent year-on-year.
CAPEX and cost pressures in Serbian lignite operations
The mining system behind these volumes requires significant investment. The Kolubara mining system has consumed billions of euros in cumulative spending on bucket-wheel excavators, conveyor lines, spreaders, power supply and environmental mitigation. Annual sustaining CAPEX for Serbia’s lignite mines runs well into the tens of millions of euros for equipment overhauls and environmental projects.
Cash OPEX covers thousands of workers as well as diesel, electrical power for mining machinery and materials. Serbia’s coal reserves are estimated at around 7.1 billion tonnes, primarily lignite. For EPS, the cost balance is shifting as environmental compliance, ash disposal, dust suppression and CO₂ pricing at the power-plant level erode the pit-level cost advantage versus new renewables.
Bosnia’s lignite supply constraints and utility losses
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s coal sector is smaller than Serbia’s but remains important for its power system. The country produced 13.3 million tonnes of lignite in 2022, most of it burned in thermal power plants located near mines, and it also exported a record 0.83 million tonnes. Lignite and brown coal production comes from mines supplying EPBiH and EP HZHB plants.
Several mines face geological and economic stress with high production costs and legacy labour structures. The Zenica mine, which has almost 600 employees, is being shut down because it cannot produce coal at viable prices. In 2023, weaker hydrology reduced generation at EPBiH as coal supplies faltered; import needs rose and the utility recorded an all-time-high loss of around €169 million.
Bulgaria’s Maritsa East profitability swings
Bulgaria’s Maritsa East complex illustrates how a mature lignite basin operates at scale. Mini Maritsa Iztok runs the country’s largest lignite field and supplies nearly all Bulgarian coal-fired power generation. Saleable coal output reached 35.5 million tonnes in 2022, up 25.5% on 2021.
The four Maritsa-linked power plants historically accounted for more than 90% of Bulgaria’s coal-based electricity. In 2023, thermal power plants provided 29% of Bulgaria’s 35.86 TWh, implying coal-fired output of roughly 10.4 TWh. TPP Maritsa East 2 recorded a €52 million loss in 2024 after a modest profit in 2023 and a windfall of about €600 million in 2022 during the energy crisis.
Lignite generation declines in Greece
PPC’s joint output from its lignite mines was about 9.5 million tonnes in 2023, feeding plants in Western Macedonia and Megalopolis. Electricity produced from those assets has been falling quickly: coal power production in the first nine months of 2024 dropped to record lows. Lignite-fired generation accounted for only 3.2 TWh in 2024, about 15% of PPC’s output.
PPC reported that fossil gas plants produced much more over the same period. In 2023, combined fossil gas and lignite generation was 19.2 TWh, but lignite’s share was at its lowest level since the 1970s. CO₂ figures for 2024 show lignite plants emitted 4.33 million tonnes, while gas plants emitted about 8.1 million tonnes.
Mines to capacity transition in North Macedonia
North Macedonia has smaller-scale coal assets but is also moving through a transition phase. In 2023 it had 824 MW of coal-fired capacity across two thermal power plants supplied by domestic lignite mines that historically provided most national electricity. Total domestic production in 2024 was 6.13 TWh, with coal still supplying a significant share.
The government has committed to replacing lignite with a combination of gas, solar, wind and hydro backed by around €3 billion of investments to 2040. That plan implies gradual winding down of mine CAPEX alongside rising reclamation and just-transition costs for coal regions.
Bucharest negotiations on extending coal plant lifetimes
Romania operates a mixed system dominated by hydro, nuclear and gas where coal remains politically sensitive despite a smaller role for lignite and hard coal. Installed coal capacity is being phased out under the national recovery plan; however, as of 2025 Bucharest is negotiating with the European Commission to extend the lifetime of 2.6 GW of coal plants beyond the planned 2026 phase-out deadline due to delayed replacement projects.
Mines in the Oltenia basin still produce several million tonnes per year for CE Oltenia’s plants. Reinvestment is increasingly directed toward joint gas-and-solar projects developed with partners including OMV Petrom and Tinmar.
The regional scale: more than 100 million tonnes annually
Taken together across Serbia ()? Coal production figures across multiple countries total close to regional scale quickly when aggregated by basin output rather than plant-level generation alone. Serbia’s 34–35 million tonnes, Bulgaria’s 35.5 million tonnes, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 13.3 million tonnes, and Greece’s about 9.5 million tonnes account for around