Czech President Pavel signs law to speed permitting of gas-fired power plants

President Petr Pavel has signed an amendment to the Energy Act nicknamed lex plyn, which is intended to speed up permitting for the construction of new combined-cycle gas power plants. The president’s office announced this today on its website. Gas-fired power plants are expected to provide sufficient capacity to generate electricity as coal-fired sources are gradually phased out in the coming years. The amendment could shorten permitting procedures by up to five years. According to an earlier statement by Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), this will enable Czechia to avoid dependence on electricity imports from abroad.

In its approved form, the amendment also abolishes individual reviews of the profitability and appropriateness of state support for some solar power plants built during the solar boom of 2009 to 2010. These reviews were intended to save the state money from the budget allocated to their support. The Chamber of Deputies had already included them in the previous amendment to the Energy Act. The Senate wanted to remove them at the time, but MPs overrode it. Only on the second attempt, with lex plyn, did the Senate manage to push through its proposal.

The amendment was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies by a group of MPs led by Industry Minister Lukáš Vlček (STAN). According to its sponsors, gas-fired sources are also set to play a key role as backup capacity capable of stabilising variable output from renewable sources.

For example, the amendment requires investors in gas-fired power plants to state in their authorisation applications which supplier they expect to select for the plant. Applicants will also have to meet requirements relating to the state’s security interests, as set by the Ministry of Industry, throughout the plant’s construction and maintenance.

Under the proposal, the Energy Regulatory Office will be able, in cases of urgent need and in the public interest, to require holders of electricity generation licences to generate electricity beyond the scope of their licences. The sponsors argue that, given the high share of coal-fired sources in electricity generation, the unplanned shutdown of coal-fired sources could pose a risk to the reliability of electricity supplies. Generators subject to this obligation will be entitled to compensation for their losses or a reasonable profit.

At the proposal of the Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Affairs Committee, the Chamber added a ban on so-called energy dumpers to the law. These are devices used to dissipate surplus energy, mainly when electricity prices are negative. The law signed today restores Prague, Brno and Ostrava’s ability to issue their own building regulations. The Chamber had removed this ability when approving the previous amendment to the Energy Act because of a legislative-technical error.

The amendment also classifies renewable electricity generation facilities with an output of more than 15 megawatts as energy security structures. For wind power plants, the threshold will apply to the entire wind farm.