Solar installations in Prague fall 40% year on year so far this year

New solar power installations in Prague are gradually declining. In the first three quarters of this year, 875 new solar PV systems with a total capacity of 15.4 megawatts (MW) were connected in the capital. This represents a year-on-year drop of around 40%. Interest in connecting new energy sources has been falling sharply for the second year in a row. This is according to information from PREdistribuce. Interest in connecting new solar panels is declining across Czechia. Meanwhile, the Prague Water Management Company (PVS) today commissioned a new solar power plant at the Kopanina water reservoir in Prague 5.

According to PREdistribuce, which manages the electricity distribution grid in Prague, around 9,000 solar systems with a total capacity of 110 MW are now connected in the city. Most are household PV systems connected at low voltage, said Karel Hanzelka, a spokesperson for Pražská energetika.

Statistics show that interest in solar systems is declining, he said. During the same period last year, the distributor connected 1,415 new PV systems with a capacity of 26.3 MW. That was already a significant drop. In the first nine months of 2023, 2,621 solar systems were connected in the capital.

Today, PVS commissioned a solar power plant at the Kopanina water reservoir. The facility, with a capacity of 273.7 kilowatts, is expected to generate around 265 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, covering about half of the site’s consumption. The project, costing 17.3 million crowns, is part of the first phase of a plan to build nine similar power plants by the end of this year.

According to PVS Chairman of the Board Pavel Válek, the company aims to equip around 70 water infrastructure facilities with solar power plants by 2030, with a total capacity of almost 19 MW. The new installations are expected to reduce the energy consumption of operations and help cut carbon dioxide emissions.

More than 220,000 solar power plants are connected in the Czech Republic. Last year, 44,593 new PV systems were commissioned in the country, 38,106 fewer than the previous year. The significant decline is continuing this year. However, larger installations are gradually becoming more common.