Vlček plans to submit bill in January to speed up gas-fired power plant construction in Czechia

Industry and Trade Minister Lukáš Vlček (STAN) plans to submit a bill to the Chamber of Deputies by the end of January that would speed up the construction of combined-cycle gas-fired power plants. Czechia will need them as it phases out coal-fired power generation. Vlček said this today on Czech Television’s Otázky Václava Moravce programme.

According to Vlček, the special bill, dubbed „lex gas,“ should speed up the approval process and subsequent construction of combined-cycle gas-fired power plants with a capacity of more than 100 megawatts. „We have the draft legal text ready and are discussing it at coalition level,“ Vlček said. The proposal would then be approved by the government, which would submit it to MPs.

The opposition ANO would support the proposal, according to Karel Havlíček, deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and a former industry minister. „We are approaching a situation where there is a risk of an electricity shortage,“ he noted. He said it was necessary to consider not only speeding up the construction of gas-fired power plants, but also a system for keeping some coal-fired power plants in operation. He mentioned auctions as one possible approach.

According to Vlček, lex gas, together with support for renewable energy sources and investment in the transmission and distribution grids, should make it possible to reduce electricity prices for households in the future.

Vlček also said he would be willing to withdraw an amendment concerning negative prices to speed up the approval of the Energy Act. He is also discussing the Finance Ministry’s proposal to reduce support for renewable energy sources. ANO opposes scrapping the subsidies and is blocking the bill’s passage over the issue.