ČEZ to invest CZK 100 billion in energy transition in Czechia’s Ústí nad Labem Region by 2030

ČEZ Group will invest CZK 100 billion by 2030 in transforming the energy and district heating sectors in the Ústí nad Labem Region. This should preserve the district heating system, which has served most of the region’s larger towns for decades. ČEZ will build new heat and power sources and contribute to the development of education and the preservation of jobs. Further investment will follow through 2040, company representatives said today in Prunéřov.

„We can say that we will build new sources at every site, because we currently supply some heat at each of them. So that will be here in Prunéřov and in Trmice. There will also be new sources in Tušimice and Ledvice, although they will not supply heat. We are preparing a plan for each site individually. The basis will be biomass, while we expect gas to cover peak heat demand,“ ČEZ Deputy Chairman of the Board Pavel Cyrani told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) today.

ČEZ has the funds for the investments ready, but company representatives said it is also counting on support from state or European Union funds. The transition to a low-carbon energy sector is necessary and must be carried out quickly, Cyrani said. State or EU support could help ensure that heat supplies remain affordable for consumers. The state owns approximately 70 percent of the energy company’s shares.

One of the investments is the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in ACTHERM Distribuce, which supplies heat to Chomutov from the Prunéřov II power plant. The transaction was completed today, ČEZ representatives announced.

Specifically, ČEZ wants to build biomass boilers in Ledvice in the coming years. A new biomass boiler, cogeneration units for producing electricity and heat, a gas boiler house and renewable energy sources are planned for Prunéřov. The company also wants to build a district heating link to Kadaň. A combined-cycle gas plant and a biomass boiler are being planned in Trmice to secure heat supplies. Tušimice is set to get a new backup gas boiler house, and renewable energy sources are also planned there. Significant investment will also go into solar power. ČEZ has 63 solar power plant projects planned in the Ústí nad Labem Region, with a total capacity of 2.3 GW.

Today, ČEZ’s plans were welcomed by the mayors of towns that receive heat from nearby power plants, as well as by representatives of the Ústí nad Labem Region. „We currently get heat for our town from the coal-fired power plant in Tušimice. But we know that supplies from this plant will inevitably end in the coming years. We are glad that ČEZ intends to live up to its position as a reliable partner and is planning to continue supplying us with heat after Tušimice is shut down, when Kadaň will be supplied by modern sources in Prunéřov. This will be made possible by a new connection linking Kadaň directly to the Prunéřov power plant. Naturally, as the owner of Kadaň’s district heating company, which acts as an intermediary between the supplier and the end customer, we are most interested in the price, and we will hold intensive discussions on that,“ said Kadaň Mayor Jan Losenický (ODS).

„Ensuring heat supplies for the region’s residents for decades to come is our absolute priority. The coal-fired sources we currently use in the energy sector to supply heat will have to be phased out within the next few years. We are looking to the future, and ČEZ’s investments will secure energy supplies for the coming decades, as well as guarantee the continued development of the energy sector and the creation of new jobs across the industry,“ added Jiří Kulhánek (ODS), deputy governor of the Ústí nad Labem Region.

ČEZ is the largest investor in the Ústí nad Labem Region, where it employs 6,200 people. Cyrani said ČEZ wants to build new district heating sources that will ensure safe and stable heat supplies for residents and businesses for decades to come, as well as new low-emission sources of electricity, especially on the sites of power plants and mines. The company is pursuing innovative, high-value-added projects such as lithium processing. These development projects and modern energy infrastructure should also create skilled jobs and provide an impetus for research. That is why ČEZ wants to intensify its cooperation with schools. It currently partners with six secondary schools and also wants to strengthen its cooperation with the university in Ústí nad Labem.

Although the state plan envisages an end to coal mining no later than 2033, ČEZ plans to stop using coal by 2030. However, overall economic pressure, and especially rising emissions allowance prices, could bring this date forward, meaning coal use could end sooner. That is why massive investment in transforming the power and district heating sectors is essential.

Last year, ČEZ Group’s net profit fell by 63 percent year on year to CZK 29.6 billion. Even so, excluding the record year of 2022, ČEZ earned more last year than in any of the previous ten years.