Companies
investing in renewables in the
Czech Republic
say the country's EU accession
provided a major boost for green businesses. However, they complained of a
"huge administrative burden" and favouritism of certain technologies.
EurActiv
Czech
Republic
reports.
"EU accession opened the
Czech
Republic
and enabled exchange of technologies, information and money," says
Jiří Přikryl from
Ventureal CZ
, a Czech wind farm developer. The company, founded in 2001, also
operates in Slovenia and Romania.
Petr Klímek of CZEPHO, an
association representing the Czech photovoltaic industry, shares this opinion. "The
business environment in the Czech Republic has gradually improved and EU
accession played a vital role in this," Klímek said.
"Otherwise we would still
only be building nuclear or coal power plants," Přikryl added with a grin.
In 2005, the Czech Republic
adopted a law aimed at supporting investment in renewables, primarily based on
feed-in tariffs. This policy mechanism, designed to accelerate efforts to
improve the competitiveness of renewable energy as a power source, was welcomed
by green activists. They praised it for aiming to achieve an 8% share of
renewables in electricity production by 2010.
"This system successfully started up the industry. However, like
any other system, you have to adjust it from time to time," claims Aleš
Spáčil from
Conergy CZ
, adding:"It should be changed into a more diversified
version which takes into account returns on investment."
Major obstacles
Although the Czech Republic is aiming
to produce 8% of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of the year,
by mid-2009 the share was only 6.5%.
EurActiv Czech Republic asked
stakeholders why this objective is unlikely to be met. Investors in renewables
widely complain that many regional politicians tend to fight against 'green'
business, particularly wind turbines, and renewables are not supported by the
Ministry of Industry either.
"On one hand, you have a progressive law supporting renewables, but
on the other many other laws that to paralyse our projects," Karel Marek
of Niko, the exclusive dealer in the Czech Republic for
Vestas
,an international wind farm company headquartered in Denmark.
"Most EU member states try to
cut the administrative burden related to building renewables sites, but here
the trend is totally opposite," Marek says, adding that Czech construction
law presents one of the biggest obstacles.
Industry representatives complain
that with better legislation, the Czech Republic could build up to 2,750 MW of
wind power sites. In fact, five years after the renewables law was adopted,
only 191 MW have been developed. In comparison, Austria, a country similar in
size, has built 1,000 MW in that time.
Solar Klondike
Some investors also complain that
solar energy was unfairly given preferential treatment. A more generous feed-in
tariff for solar energy and increasingly cheaper photovoltaic panels mean the
business has become extremely profitable. Investments are repaid within 8-10
years and the feed-in tariff is guaranteed for 20 years, business
representatives said.
This has led to an unprecedented
boom in photovoltaic power, which increased from 70 MW in 2008 to 470 MW in
2009, and is predicted to hit at least 1,000 MW by the end of 2010. The Czech
transmission system operator ČEPS said it fears for the stability of the grid,
and has asked distribution companies to reject all new demands to connect
renewables to the grid.
Green business instantly condemned
the move, calling it a "false alarm".
Economic players argue that
excessive demand for grid capacity from the solar industry (which is in many
cases only speculative, because sites can be reserved for free) is hindering
the development of other renewable projects.
"The Czech government
massively supports solar energy, which is least effective in our conditions and
therefore kills stable and traditional sources like small hydroelectric
plants," the head of the country's hydroelectric plants association, Zdeněk
Nováček, sais.
Czech electricity distributors,
meanwhile, have published a report showing that 40% of funds designed to
support renewables go on solar plants. Despite this, solar will only produce 7%
of Czech renewable electricity this year.
An amendment to the renewables law
has been tabled to give the Energy Regulatory Office the authority to cut
feed-in tariffs more significantly. However, no-one can be sure whether this
will be approved before national elections are held in May.
The Czech Republic should achieve
a 13% share of renewables on final consumption by 2020, but many experts argue
that so far the country is off-course. According to the Ministry of Industry,
priority should be given to heating rather than electricity production from
renewables, as well as biomass use.
(from
Euractiv)