After the solar boom, wind is taking off too: Czech government plans 220 turbines within seven years

While distribution companies count applications to connect photovoltaic plants in the thousands each month, until recently they could count wind turbines on the fingers of one hand. In recent months, however, interest in them has also been growing. Under the government’s plan, around two hundred are to be built by 2030. 

“Until recently, wind power plants were marginal, given the character of the landscape and the more demanding permitting process. But the situation is changing, based on what we have received from customers and investors. Regions and municipalities are also beginning to look at them differently and see them as a new area that will provide them with a stable energy source,” Pavel Čada, vice-chairman of the board of distribution company EG.D, said at a press conference on the current situation in renewable energy sources.

According to him, they are now registering planned wind power plants in the Vysočina region and southern Bohemia with a capacity of 640 MW (the maximum possible output; this is only a theoretical figure, as power plants do not operate continuously, editor’s note). Rival ČEZ currently has a total of 211 applications submitted this year, with requested capacity of 3,164 MW, according to its spokeswoman Soňa Holingerová.

While interest in photovoltaics (PV) has surged over the past two years, wind power plants have so far been frozen in Czechia. Regions and municipalities did not want to permit them in their territories, and residents also rejected them in referendums.

“The attitudes of citizens and mayors are also changing considerably in many locations. I can see this from the last three referendums, two of which supported wind turbines and one opposed them,” Environment Minister Petr Hladík said in an interview with Ekonews.

The National Energy and Climate Plan, which the government recently sent to Brussels, envisages 10 GWe of solar capacity by 2030 (currently 2.1 GWe) and 1.5 GWe of wind capacity (currently 0.3 GWe). The installed capacity of around 340 MW of wind power plants has remained unchanged since 2019.

“When turbines of five or six megawatts are installed today, that means roughly 200 to 220 wind turbines. In reality, this is just a few wind farms across the Czech Republic. It does not mean thousands and thousands of turbines; it is not something to be feared,” Hladík argues. According to him, there are, on the contrary, many suitable sites in former mining areas that were used industrially and are well connected to the distribution and transmission grids.

Mapping of so-called acceleration zones is currently under way; they will be created following discussions with regional representatives. Investors should be able to obtain permits within a year in these zones, whereas ten years is not unusual today.

According to Martin Sedlák of the Modern Energy Association (SME) and an adviser to the environment minister, community energy will also help develop wind power. The relevant legislation is currently before parliament.

“Municipalities or local residents will be able to become co-investors and benefit from better prices,” Sedlák said on the PKV talks programme. According to an SME analysis, the potential for wind farms by 2030 is as much as two gigawatts. “In the longer term, however, the technical potential is 30 percent of current electricity consumption in Czechia,” he added.

Solar boom

Photovoltaic power plants do not face wind power’s problems. “Last year, we registered around four thousand applications per month for small rooftop photovoltaic systems, with the greatest interest in southern Moravia and southern Bohemia. The number of applications is now around two thousand a month and the situation is stable,” Čada said on behalf of EG.D. According to him, it remains to be seen what subsidy programmes will be available, as they affect demand.

Market leader ČEZ has registered more than five thousand applications to connect generating plants across its entire service area and across voltage levels, according to its spokeswoman.

Overall, Czechia now has 3,600 MW of solar and wind capacity, according to data presented at EG.D’s press conference. “That is equivalent to three units of the Temelín nuclear power plant,” Pavel Čada commented, adding that renewable sources with capacity equivalent to fifteen units of the South Bohemian nuclear power plant should be built in the future.

Republished from EkoNews.cz, a website covering business and sustainability.