Press releases pg. 45

Despite the difficult conditions caused by the COVID pandemic, the number of solar power plants installed was up by a quarter year-on-year, and the number of heat pumps by nearly a half. ČEZ Prodej also expanded the number of its technology and service centres in Bohemia and in Moravia. This year, ČEZ Prodej plans further significant growth in installations.

Restrictions in the fight against the coronavirus do not mean a red light to visitors to our power-generation operations, at least not for virtual tours. ČEZ info centre guides, who scored so high in December with some 1,700 school children and students with online tours of our power plants, will now unlock the secrets of power generation to the general public. As of 9 January, an absolute novelty awaits anyone interested: an online trip to the world of energy. “On a virtual visit to a power plant”, they can learn interesting details about each type of power plant, get to see places that are not normally accessible, and can compete for prizes. Of course, our online excursions for middle schools and high schools carry on.

Finding the nearest charging station, reporting the occupancy of individual stands in the entire network of more than 240 stations or an overview of all consumption and billing - this is just a small list of services that have been a matter of course for ČEZ customers for half a year. This is how the FUTUR/E/GO application sets the pace while operating the network and managing customer accounts. The advanced IT system of the Israeli company Driivz is currently used globally by three-quarters of a million e-car drivers and, more recently, by roughly two thousand ČEZ clients. The launch of the system was funded by the European programme Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The CEZ Group fund Inven Capital has completed its second investment this year by purchasing a minority stake in Berlin-based Forto, a company providing global full-service digital freight forwarding and supply chain solutions. This year's round of financing lasted several months, and investors entrusted a total of 43 million euros to Forto. The European Investment Bank provided a further 20 million euros. Forto operates in Europe and Asia, has over 2,500 customers.