CZECH ENERGY INDUSTRY The energy industry is one of the most important sectors in the Czech Republic. Traditionally, we are very strong in the area of engineering and the manufacture of power-generating facilities, which the industry can build and operate efficiently, including nuclear power sources.
The Czech Republic is self-sufficient in electricity production, based predominantly on domestic brown coal deposits and nuclear power sources. On the other hand, natural gas and oil are imported from politically unstable countries, which may endanger safe and reliable supplies in future. The adequate capacity of national and international transmission facilities creates prerequisites for international trade in electricity. The energy sector is a stable branch in the Czech Republic, which attracts foreign investors and creates good prerequisites for the further development of Czech industry. The Czech power industry is still dominated by coal resources. Traditionally, with the largest proportion of energy being generated by brown coal-powered power stations, the second largest electric power source in terms of output in the Czech Republic is the Temelín and the Dukovany nuclear power stations. Despite the protective measures and restrictions taken by the government, the Dukovany and the Temelín power stations in 2020 narrowly surpassed the 30 billion kilowatt hour mark in electricity supply, confirming the key position of emission-free energy sources in the Czech Republic. In 2020 the Temelín power station generated 15.75 terawatt hours – historically its third highest output
PHOTOVOLTAIC BOOM Solar energy is one of the pillars on which the European Union wants to build a greener society, and that is why the popularity of photovoltaic power plants is growing. No wonder that in the long run electricity prices have been growing, while the prices of the solar systems have been declining. What
DYNAMIC RESEARCH PROJECTS IN POWER ENGINEERING The Czech power engineering industry does not entail the mere operation of power stations, coal mining and photovoltaics. In addition to all of these, the Czech Republic has a number of important programmes and research projects it can be proud of. Řež Research Centre: the construction of the SUSEN infrastructure project is completed and research is continuing. The extensive research base for nuclear technologies in Řež near Prague and in Plzeň is already in operation. The SUSEN workplace in Plzeň focuses on the research of nuclear fusion, materials, diagnostics and testing for the purposes of the power industry. An important part of the SUSEN project in Plzeň are the nondestructive defectoscopy
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The Czech Republic – Your Business Partner in the EU
trends are to be expected in energy prices in 2021? Probably those tending upwards, as shown by figures published by ČEZ Sales, one of the main providers of photovoltaic panel installations in the Czech Republic. In the first five months of 2020 the firm installed 238 solar systems on Czech roofs, a 54 per cent increase in comparison with the same period in the previous year. The upward trend has not been stopped even by the Coronavirus pandemic. In the Czech Republic, photovoltaic power stations are installed on the roofings of large carparks outside shopping centres or employee carports. The largest carport for 322 cars with a 820 kilowatt photovoltaic power station is currently being built outside the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The equipment worth CZK 60 million is using double-sided panels, another photovoltaic technical novelty, producing power not only from direct sunshine, but also from the light reflected from the cars parked there. Such a solar park is expected to generate about 20-25 per cent more electricity than conventional panels. The largest roof power station was installed by Škoda Auto in Mladá Boleslav in 2020. Photovoltaic stations on company and carport roofs in Mladá Boleslav are expected to generate more than 450 megawatt hours of green electricity, which the car factory will use for its own immediate consumption. The excess electricity will be stored in batteries. In 2020, a total of 1373 commercial photovoltaic facilities were installed on the roofs of companies and factories with a total output of 28.8 MWp, according to the Solar Association statistics. Nearly four times more small stations were installed on the roofs of family houses, although their aggregate capacity was only 22.6 megawatt hours.
laboratories. The material research laboratories verify the firmness, resistance, and service life of metals and welds. Broader contexts of “pure” energy generation are being sought by the Advanced Photovoltaics Centre being built in Prague, in addition to seeking ways of raising the efficiency of solar panels. At the birth of this ambitious centre were graduates from the Nuclear Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering faculties of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The Centre brings together all aspects of Photovoltaics, from theoretical Physics, which will help to improve the efficiency of solar cells, to technological problems, the testing and diagnostics of solar panels and their integration into the structures of buildings.
