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The development of clean energy will bring more than 300 billion crowns of investments, according to a study in which the Faculty of Electrical Engineering participates

Publication date: 
2020/05/20
A total of 327.5 billion crowns will come from investments to achieve the goal of developing renewable resources, which was set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. The amount was calculated by experts from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University and the Chamber of Renewable Energy Sources. According to a study by the Chamber, approximately 70 billion crowns of public support will be needed to trigger these investments. The Modernization Fund will be key, the conditions of which are currently being finalized by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic.

The first part of the analysis deals with actual investments in renewable energy sources (RES) in 2017. The calculation includes both "small" renewable sources for energy production in buildings and sources for electricity and heat supply to the grid, the so-called "large" sources . According to the findings of the Czech Technical University, in 2017 a total of approximately 5.1 billion crowns was invested in renewable sources in the Czech Republic.

"In order to achieve the goal set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the average annual investment needs to be roughly sixfold compared to 2017," said Michaela Valentová, head of the research team at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague (FEE CTU).

The second part of the analysis calculated the necessary investment costs for the development of renewables until 2030, as envisaged in the latest version of the so-called National Plan, which was submitted in January by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic (MIT). The plan envisages an increase in gross clean energy consumption to 22% by 2030 (from around 16% today). According to the study's calculations, the total costs for the construction of renewable sources between 2021 and 2030 represent 327.5 billion crowns (ie approximately 32.8 billion per year). This amount includes:

 

●     141.6 billion crowns for sources for heat production. About half (51%) of this is for the development of biomass resources, 24% for the heat pump sector. The rest is investment in solar collectors and biogas and geothermal sources.

●      135.7 billion for electricity generation resources. The largest share falls on investments in photovoltaics (64%) and wind power plants (21%). The rest is investment in biogas, biomass, small hydropower and geothermal power plants.

●      50.3 billion for biomethane production resources.

 

Part of both analyzes is the quantification of investments in increasing energy efficiency and savings in buildings. "Support for energy savings and the development of renewables should go hand in hand," said prof. Jaroslav Knápek from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, who also participated in the research.

The background studies, i.e. the Map of Climate and Energy Investments of the Czech Republic and the Investment Need for the Fulfillment of Climate and Energy Goals for 2030 in the Czech Republic, can be downloaded here, including a summary in English. Both reports were prepared as part of the Climate Investment Capacity project supported by the European Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.