Environmentalists welcome faster permitting for Czech combined-cycle power plants

An amendment to the Energy Act known as Lex Gas brings some positive steps, particularly for renewables, environmentalists told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). They welcome the faster permitting of new combined-cycle power plants. The proposal could shorten permitting processes by up to five years. Combined-cycle power plants are expected to provide the electricity generation capacity needed as coal-fired plants are scheduled to be phased out. The amendment was passed by the Chamber of Deputies today and will now be considered by the Senate.

Lex Gas brings improvements in the area of wind energy, which it newly classifies as infrastructure for ensuring energy security. Edvard Sequens of the Calla association believes the change will help unblock the development of wind power, which has so far been held back by administrative burdens. He also welcomes the scrapping of mandatory inspections for smaller solar installations.

Jaroslav Bican of Greenpeace Czech Republic, however, pointed out that despite its positive changes, the amendment still allows subsidies for the loss-making operation of coal-fired power plants and for them to earn a reasonable profit, which he considers a major problem. On the positive side, he said, a proposal was adopted requiring any potential support to be approved by the European Commission as state aid.

„From the outset, we have warned that Lex Gas is opening the door to support for coal under the guise of gas,“ Bican said.

Although some safeguards have been adopted, he said, the best solution would be to remove the entire section on coal from the law.

Lex Gas allows authorities to order the continued operation of a coal-fired power plant if its shutdown would threaten the functioning of the grid. However, an amendment limited the possibility of supporting coal, bringing the legislation closer, in the view of Jiří Koželouh of Hnutí Duha, to serving as a safeguard against coal-fired plants being switched off too quickly.

Sequens said that some problematic proposals did not pass and that conditions had been secured to limit the possibility of coal benefiting from state support, although he agrees that the section on coal should not be in the law at all. He added that a new Energy Act would be appropriate, as the growing number of amendments to the current law is making it difficult to navigate.

The changes also affect the connection of new power sources to the grid. Environmentalists welcome the adoption of an amendment introducing non-refundable deposits for connection reservations. According to Koželouh, this could encourage investors to relinquish capacity for the development of renewables when projects are no longer considered viable.

The amendment to the Energy Act clarifies the obligations of investors in gas-fired power plants, who will have to name their expected supplier in their application for authorisation and comply with security requirements set by the Ministry of Industry throughout construction and maintenance.

At the same time, the range of solar power plants from 2009 to 2010 subject to individual profitability checks has been narrowed; these will now apply only to plants with a capacity above 145 kilowatts.