“Photovoltaic parks have been an important part of our green power portfolio for more than a decade. Thanks to their production, we do not have to burn hundreds of thousands of tonnes of coal annually, and this is contributing to the gradual decarbonisation of the Czech energy sector. But this is not the end of our task; on the contrary, we are entering the next phase. We want to use the experience gained in the construction, operation and maintenance of renewable energy sources in the construction of modern solar and wind power plants. By 2030, we will have built 6,000 MW of new renewable sources, which we are developing on industrial premises or on reclamation sites. We would like to put the first one into operation this year,” said Jan Kalina, Member of the Board of Directors and Director of the ČEZ Renewable and Conventional Energy Division.
The best conditions for generating green electricity from the sun over the last decade were in 2018, 2019 and 2022. The cumulation of years of record production in recent years also reflects the growing experience of plant operators and their ever-improving service and maintenance. Last year, photovoltaic plants produced the most in June (13.4% of annual production), July (13.3%), May (13.2%) and March (11.9%), while the least was in December (1.3%) and January (2.5%). Although the production peaks in the warm and sunny months, from November to February photovoltaic panels can make the best use of their potential due to minimal heat loss.
In the end, however, the combination of photovoltaic power plants and wind resources is advantageous. While photovoltaic plants produce mainly in spring and summer, wind power plants take advantage of the stronger wind flow during autumn and winter. Renewable resources are thus able to partially stabilise themselves within the energy grid.
“Thanks to the know-how we have gained from our long experience, we manage to squeeze the most out of the panels in literally every season. Last year, this meant a 12% year-on-year increase in production. Not only do we benefit from meaningful investments in quality maintenance and technology for the early detection of faults, but also from planning outages with weather forecasts in mind. Thanks to this, we are able to react quickly to the situation and minimise production losses,” said Róbert Heczko, Director of Power Plant Operations at ČEZ Obnovitelné zdroje.
ČEZ also helps to increase emission-free production from the sun by building turnkey photovoltaic plants for its customers, meaning households, companies, cities and municipalities. ČEZ Prodej, a company focused on households and small businesses, installed over four thousand rooftop photovoltaic systems last year, with a fourfold year-on-year growth in installed capacity. The largest solar power plants for corporate customers were built last year under the leadership of ČEZ ESCO on the roof of the Prague Congress Centre and a Billa retail chain warehouse, both with an installed capacity of 1 MW.
A quarter of a century of ČEZ Group's experience in operating photovoltaic power plants in the Czech Republic
- it operates photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of over 126 MW in the Czech Republic today
- it has been generating electricity from the sun continuously since 1998
- the first solar power plant was built on the ridges of the Jeseníky Mountains and then moved to the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant site
- the first roof installation in 2009 was the solar strips placed on the small hydroelectric power plant in Přelouč, it was also the first place to simultaneously use two forms of renewable sources (hydroelectric and solar) to produce emission-free electricity!
- take a look how ČEZ generates electricity from the sun
- more about ČEZ photovoltaic power plants in the Czech Republic