The Serbian power distribution company EMS on Thursday denied claims by Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic that it was preventing the adoption of the Law on Renewable Energy Sources.

“We would like to remind Minister Mihajlovic that Serbia already has a serious stake in renewable energy in its power production mix and the EMS insists on integrating new stable and manageable renewable sources,” The EMS said in a press release.

Mihajlovic told the pro-regime TV Happy that all the national power companies were involved in drafting the new law but that the EMS and the power production company EPS now want to prevent the implementation of solutions which they came up with. She was commenting notes from the EPS, EMS and Energy Agency which claimed that Serbia will be left without electricity for the sake of renewable power sources. She added that changes in the national power system are inevitable despite resistance.

The EMS press release said that EPS and the Energy Agency insist on a controlled introduction of non-manageable energy sources. “We have all said that there isn’t a single country that has given up on conventional manageable power sources, including coal. We need to think strategically about the use of coal, one of Serbia’s important resources which should not be abandoned, while respecting all environmental standards,” it said. The EMS said that it had warned of the effects of hasty integration of wind and solar power a number of times.

“We said what had to say about the law on renewable power sources through official channels to the ministry… We never received any official reply… We got media statements labeling us as incompetent and obstructing,” it said, adding that every suggestion the EMS made was in the new law.