ČEZ scales back its renewable energy development plans; similar trend expected across the Czech market

ČEZ's investor presentations from this year show that the domestic energy giant is scaling back its ambitions for renewable energy sources (RES) development by 2030. And this is not merely a cosmetic adjustment. The reason? The Czech Republic's legislative and regulatory conditions are not conducive to development. Could money allocated from the Modernisation Fund for RES development therefore go to waste?

In 2021, ČEZ presented investors with a vision through to 2030, whose target the company still maintained in November 2024. The target was to increase installed solar PV and wind capacity by a total of 6 GW by 2030 compared with 2020. Given the length of permitting processes for wind power plants, it could be, and still can be, assumed that the bulk of new capacity was and is expected to come from solar PV. The starting level of installed RES capacity in 2020 was 2.2 GW (including 2 GW in hydropower plants).