Energy sector leaders: Czechia needs investment in gas-fired power plants and must act quickly

Czechia needs investment in new gas-fired power plants and other energy sources; without them, energy will be significantly more expensive than in neighboring countries. This will also require changes to the energy market. Participants in a professional discussion on the transformation of the domestic energy sector, organized today by the Institute for Public Discussion, agreed on this. In their view, gas will play a key role in electricity generation and district heating in the coming years.

„Gas will play an important role, but the way it is used will change,“ said Jan Zaplatílek, director of the Department of Gas and Liquid Fuels at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO).

He noted that in the future, the domestic energy mix should be based on nuclear power, supplemented mainly by renewable sources. However, building them will take time, and until then the importance of gas will rise significantly. According to Zaplatílek, gas should become the main energy commodity after the planned phase-out of coal.

Electricity generation in Czechia will therefore rely on gas-fired power plants and other new sources over the next 10 to 20 years. René Neděla, director of the Energy and Nuclear Resources Section at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said in this context that securing new sources must be addressed as quickly as possible—in a matter of months, perhaps even weeks—because the investments themselves take a long time.

Any delay could lead to a shortage of dispatchable electricity capacity, pushing prices higher, said Pavel Cyrani, vice-chairman of the board of ČEZ. „This would widen the gap between prices in the Czech Republic and, for example, Germany by as much as 25 or 35 euros, which is a very large difference,“ Cyrani said. He warned that this scenario would significantly weaken the competitiveness of the Czech economy compared with other countries.

Active measures are therefore needed, Cyrani said. These include investment in renewable sources, including wind power, strengthening interconnections between the domestic and foreign energy grids, developing energy storage, and, above all, building new gas-fired power plants and cogeneration facilities. However, Cyrani said, accelerating investment will require changes to the market environment. In particular, he called for the introduction of a so-called capacity market, which places greater value on available energy capacity in the market. At present, Cyrani said, the only incentive to build a new power plant is a market shortage that drives up energy prices. Under normal conditions, however, building one is not profitable, he said.

Jan Zápotočný, vice-chairman of the board of E.ON, pointed to the growing importance of gas in industry. While the share of gas use in households should gradually decline, the opposite will be true in industry. According to Zápotočný, consumption will rise at least until the end of this decade, potentially by almost a fifth compared with current levels. He therefore stressed the need to invest in gas-fired power plants that will gradually replace coal-fired sources, and also emphasized the need for a stable legislative environment.

Martin Slabý, chairman of the Council of the Czech Gas Association, recalled that investment in gas-fired sources in Czechia had been very low and neglected in previous years. The reason was the low price of natural gas, which meant investors had little interest in such sources. Recently, however, the number of planned projects has risen significantly, he said.