Wind-driven energy in the Czech Republic grew by just 15 percent to 478 GWh. The share of wind energy for domestic power production increased to 0.55 percent, which covers 136,000 households, according to figures released by the Czech Society for Wind Energy (CSVE). Four new projects totaling 8MW and with installed capacities of 268 MW were completed last year. Michal JaneÄek, CSVE president, blames political instability and strong opposition from local residents for the slow growth. He suspects that the Czech Republic will not be able to meet the national wind power target of 743 MW of installed wind energy by 2020.
JaneÄek says the permitting process is getting tougher thanks to a number of new restrictive measures that were added to the renewable resources law. The Czech energy supplier, ÄEZ, is required to buy electricity produced by renewables. Under the new law, however, the price is set using a complex formula in which the industry ministry uses a series of 14 criteria to calculate.
“There is evidence that state-owned energy company ÄEZ, which has strong coal and nuclear interests, was closely involved in drafting the law, hoping to stop the development of renewables and eliminate competition on the electricity market,” said Martin BursĆk, the former Czech environment minister and chairman of the Czech Renewable Energy Council.
