Press releases pg. 34

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and ČEZ have signed a Memorandum on the preparation of a project for a factory that makes battery cells for electric cars, known as Gigafactory. The documents set out the basic conditions for establishing the factory and form a foundation for an agreement with other potential investors in the company, in which a representative of the automotive industry and a battery manufacturer would also be involved, in addition to ČEZ. An investment in the project, which has an annual production capacity of 40 GWh, will amount to at least CZK 52 bn, and 2,300 jobs should be created.

The annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has been a tradition at the ČEZ Group for several years now, last year being no exception. The ČEZ Group succeeded in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 15% year-on-year, meaning a reduction of one-fifth in the past three years. Alongside its progressing decarbonisation, the company increased the generation of energy from renewable sources by more than 7% and accelerated the construction of public charging points for electric cars by 50%. The current Sustainable Development Report maps out the individual steps that ČEZ has taken on the road to clean energy. The report also defines ambitious targets for the future within Vision 2030 Clean Energy for Tomorrow, which was announced this year.

Power engineers have completed construction of the country’s largest photovoltaic power plant that serves as a car park roof, known as carport. Double-sided panels were used, where the bottom side uses light rays reflected from the parked cars. With a capacity of 831 kWp, this new zero-emission source generates approximately 850 MWh of electricity per year, which covers the annual consumption of nearly three hundred households.

The Berlin company Forto, whose last round of $ 50 million funding was led by the CEZ Group's Inven Capital fund last autumn, has now achieved a valuation over $ 1.2 billion, becoming a so-called unicorn after five years of existence. The rapidly growing start-up in logistics has received $ 240 million from experienced global players such as Softbank, Citibank or G Squared, and current investors are increasing their investments in the company. Forto operates in Europe and Asia, has about 2,500 customers and over 500 employees. By 2025, Forto wants all transport to be climate neutral.