News Article
Czech PV Is Third Largest In EU
Czech solar power plant output 3rd highest in EU in 2010
Czech news service is reporting that the Czech Republic became a European power in the use of solar energy in 2010 as installed output of its new photovoltaic plants was the third highest in the EU and topped 1,000 MWs.
Only Italy and in particular Germany got ahead of the Czech Republic. The output of their newly built photovoltaic power plants reached nearly 7,000 MWs.
Mr Ingmar Wilhelm president of EPIA said that the growth of photovoltaics in 2010 was amazing. The decrease in costs, high investor interest and continuing political support made photovoltaics number one green technology in the whole of Europe.
The Czech Republic is fourth in Europe in total installed capacity of solar power plants. Energy Regulatory Office data show that photovoltaic plants with total output at 1,820 MWs were connected to the grid and got a licence last year.
The chart is topped by Germany with over 16,000 MWs, followed by Italy and Spain. However, Spain has not much bigger installed output of solar power plants than the Czech Republic.
The EPIA expects, nevertheless, that for the Czech Republic this growth was the last for a long time to come because the politicians have cut support to investors into the construction of new solar power plants. The Czech Republic saw a huge boom but this will most likely influence photovoltaics in the country in the coming months and years in the worst possible way.
The use of solar energy in the rest of Europe will keep growing irrespective of developments in the Czech Republic. Investors installed solar power plants with total output at 13,000 MWs in the EU last year and their total output is already at 28,000 MWs. Thus, photovoltaic plants supply electricity to roughly 10 million households in the EU 27.
The EU is a clear global leader in the use of solar energy. In the Czech Republic alone, the output of photovoltaic plants built last year is higher than in Japan or the USA. Only the installed output in Japan at nearly 1,000 MWs is close to the Czech Republic. The USA has 700 to 800 MWs. Theoretically, the Czech Republic thus holds the third place not only in the EU but in the whole world.
The Czech government last year reacted to the huge boom in solar energy and the ERU's warning that this could raise energy prices by over 10%. The cabinet adopted a series of measures to reduce the increase in energy prices to 4.6% for households and 5.2% for companies on average. Among the measures was a 26% tax on energy from solar power plants and higher fees for the use of farmland for building photovoltaic plants.
The purchasing price of electricity from solar power plants with output above 100 kilowatts which were to be connected from January 2011 has been cut by over a half, from last year's CZK 12,150 to CZK 5,500 a megawatt hour.
