Czech Republic completes further auctions for supported energy sources: Wind ends in fiasco, while cogeneration sees surplus capacity

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) has published on its website the results of auctions for supported energy sources (POZE). The auctions were held for high-efficiency combined heat and power (CHP), wind power plants and small hydropower plants. The CHP and small hydropower auctions were fully subscribed, whereas only one project was entered into the wind power auction, with its installed capacity accounting for less than 3 % of the volume auctioned.

CHP auction

CHP auctions are attracting strong interest. The volume offered in the first call of this year was 905 MW, while the maximum reference price in the auction was set at 4190 CZK/MWh. A total of 57 bids were assessed, of which 48 were ultimately successful.

The highest awarded reference price was 4183 CZK/MWh. However, two projects stand out in terms of their significance, as their capacities were substantially larger than those of the others and together accounted for more than 90 % of the auction’s allocated volume.

By far the largest successful project is a natural-gas-fired heating plant by Energotrans, a.s., part of the ČEZ Group, in Mělník, with a capacity of 650 MW and an awarded price of 4179.9 CZK/MWh. Another major project by capacity is Plzeňská teplárenská, a.s.’s biomass and natural gas project, with total installed capacity of 200 MW and an awarded price of 4080 CZK/MWh.

Renewables auctions

By contrast, the competitive call for wind power plants, which offered 180 MW at a maximum reference price of 3500 CZK/MWh, ended poorly. Only one project, most likely involving a single 4.2 MW turbine, was entered into the auction. The project was submitted by WEB VP Břežany s.r.o. and comfortably secured the maximum possible reference price.

The sticking point in this call was the requirement to submit a building permit, further confirming how extremely difficult it is to obtain a permit in the Czech Republic. This is despite the government’s efforts to speed up permitting processes.

The final auction held was for support for small hydropower plants, with a total volume of 5 MW. Two projects were successful in the call, each with 2.5 MW and the same requested reference price of 4300 CZK/MWh. The maximum was 4500 CZK/MWh.