Chvaletice and Počerady plants produce least electricity in 10 years this year

Sev.en's Počerady and Chvaletice power plants produced a record-low amount of electricity in the first quarter. The two plants supplied approximately 1.64 TWh of electricity to the grid, the lowest figure since 2015, when publicly available data begins. In March, Sev.en, the operator of both plants, announced that their generation may no longer be economically viable as early as next year and that it was considering closing them.

In recent weeks, the future of coal-fired power plants has been discussed increasingly often in the Czech energy sector. Until recently, the Czech government had been setting targets for the latest date by which coal-fired power plants had to be taken out of operation. However, their operators suggest that no targets are needed due to changes in commodity markets. They will shut the plants down themselves earlier.

Sev.en opened the debate on the possible early end of coal-fired power plants. It is considering closing the Počerady and Chvaletice power plants as early as the beginning of next year, i.e. at the end of the 2024/2025 heating season. Their operation is simply not economically viable.

“The situation in the energy sector is serious. Market conditions and other factors – such as massive gas imports – are creating significant commercial pressure on heat and electricity from coal. Due to persistently high allowance prices and other influences, they are becoming uncompetitive, putting traditional coal-fired sources at risk of economic shutdown,” Sev.en spokesperson Gabriela Sáričková Benešová told news website Seznamzpravy.cz.

Both plants are among the largest coal-fired sources in the Czech Republic and supplied just under 7 TWh of electricity to the grid last year alone, equivalent to almost the output of one unit at Temelín (approximately 2.8 TWh was supplied by Chvaletice and 4 TWh by Počerady) or 10 % of Czech electricity consumption. The plants recorded their highest generation in the crisis year of 2022, when they supplied a combined 9.6 TWh to the grid.

This year, by contrast, generation could be record-low. This is indicated by data for the first quarter of this year, when electricity generation at the two plants was the lowest in the past 10 years.

Generation at both plants is generally lowest in the second and third quarters, which was also the case last year. During this period, renewable sources, particularly photovoltaic power plants, generate more instead. More than 1 GW of installed capacity was added in the Czech Republic alone last year. This may also be one of the factors pushing generation at both plants lower during this year's summer months.

The economics of operating coal-fired power plants largely depend on their strategy for forward selling the electricity they generate. Under this strategy, plant operators can secure electricity prices on the wholesale market up to three years ahead. While ČEZ says the economics of operating its coal-fired power plants will not be at risk until 2027, Sev.en faces this risk as early as next year.