International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
The potential of the usage of renewable energy in the Czech
Republic
Vukica Janković
Helena Mitwallyová
Vukica Janković: University of Economics, Prague, Nám. Winstona Churchilla 4, Prague 3,
13000, Czech Republic. Email: jankovic.vukica@gmail.com
Helena Mitwallyová: University of Economics, Prague, Nám. Winstona Churchilla 4, Prague 3,
13000, Czech Republic. Email: mitwally@volny.cz
Abstract
Energy is main resources for economy development in every country and have important and
significant influence in all societies. The well-being of people, industry and economy depends on
safe, secure, sustainable and available energy. Energy sector plays an important role for the
Czech Republic’s economy and for the regional energy security. The country has established a
commitment with the EU to achieve an 8% share of electricity generated from RES in domestic
electricity generation by 2010 and achieve a share of 13% of energy made from RES per final
consumption before 2020. This paper deals with renewable energy sources in general and with
special emphasis on renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic.
Key words: renewable energy, resources, energy, Czech Republic
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
1. Introduction
Renewable energy sources play an important role today and provide a significant potential for
the future. Renewable energy sources also called alternative energy sources. Developing of
alternative energy can become important factor of sustainable development of economy.
Renewable energy sources include biomass, hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind and marine
energy. The renewable energies are domestic, available in any country, they are clean and
inexhaustible energy resources. They are natural energies which does not have a limited supply.
At present, consumption of fossil fuels is increasing along with the growth of population all
over the planet. That makes additional pressure on the basic resources of the planet and also has
significant adverse impact on the environment, resulting in increasing of health risks and the
threat of global climate change.
Increasing CO2 emission and increasing consumption of nonrenewable energy sources (coal,
oil and natural gas) and their limited reserves are factor which influence higher interests for
renewable energy. Also, renewable energy sources have become more important because of their
characteristics of reproducibility and less harmful impact on the environment.
Renewable energy sources supply 16 % of the total world energy consumption and the share
of renewable energy sources is expected to increase very significantly. According to the
International Energy Agency achieving the goal of halving global energy related CO2 emissions
by 2050 will require a doubling (from today’s levels) of renewable generation by 2020.
Growth of renewable energy sources reflects growth and investment in all market sectors.
During the period 2005-2010 total global capacity of many renewable energy technologies grow
to average rate around 15 to nearly 50 % annually. Total investment in renewable energy reached
211 billion $ in the 2010. Wind power added the most new capacity, followed by hydropower
and solar PV (Sawin, L.J. at all, 2011).
Governments and consumers take measures to increase the deployment of renewable energy
technologies for three principal reasons, which are interlinked:
• to improve energy security;
• to encourage economic development, particularly associated with rural and agricultural
sectors, or with innovation and high tech manufacturing;
• to protect the climate and the wider environment from impacts of fossil fuels use.
At early 2011, at least 119 countries had some type of policy target or renewable support policy
at the national level, up from 55 countries at early 2005.
In general renewable forms of energy are considered “green” because they cause little
depletion of the Earth’s resources, have beneficial environmental impacts and cause negligible
emissions during power generation.
It is becoming clear that future growth in the energy sector will be primarily in the new
regime of renewable energy, and to some extent natural gas-based systems, not in conventional
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
oil and coal sources. Industry specialists suggest that the future growth in the energy sector will
be primarily in renewable energy (Herzog, A.V. at all. 2001).
2. Benefits of Renewable Energy Use
The use of renewable energy sources have many advantages and offer many environmental
benefits compared to conventional energy sources. Each type of renewable energy also has its
own special advantages that make it uniquely suited to certain applications. Some of the benefits
includes: renewability, environment protection, savings of non-renewable energy resources,
energy efficiency, availability, low exploitation costs, increase of employment, energy security
and independence, independence from frequent market change.
From these advantages, the main benefits is the fact that these sources of energy are
renewable. That mean we can use renewable energy repeatedly without depleting it. That is the
main advantage to conventional energy sources which are non-renewable and have limited
resources. We will never run out of renewable energy (at least in our lifetime, as long as humans
will exist). For example: we will always have possibility to use sun energy. The amount of solar
energy intercepted by the Earth every minute is greater than the amount of energy the world uses
in fossil fuels each year. The wind will always exist. This advantage can provide the energy
security in many parts of the world.
A second advantage is that we can stop using fossil fuels to generate electricity. With renewable
energy we can use as much electricity as we like without adding to global warming.
Renewable sources are available. A kay aspect of energy availability is a diversity of energy
sources. Conventional fuels and renewable energy sources have very different characteristics in
terms of the possibility to storage, extraction requirements, amount of reserves, susceptibility to
meteorological conditions and localization of the supply chain. These differences lead to a
different risk profile associated with the availability of the either source, according to the Policy
consideration for developing renewables.
The use of renewable energy sources has no contribution to global warming and no polluting
emissions. In the process of transformation of renewable energy in other forms of energy,
releases small amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Almost none of them release gaseous or
liquid pollutants during operation. (Hepbasli, 2008). Renewable resources are ‘’green’’, or
environmentally friendly. This is because they do not emit carbon dioxide (the biggest
contributor to global warming) into the atmosphere. Renewable technologies are considered as
clean sources of energy and optimal use of these resources minimize environmental impacts,
produce minimal secondary wastes and there are sustainable based on current and future
economic and social societal needs. Renewable energy technologies provide an excellent
opportunity for mitigation of greenhouse gas emission and reducing global warming through
substitution conventional energy sources (Panwar, Kaushik, 2010).
The growth of renewable energy sources may also have the potential to create new industries,
to stimulate employment, through the creation of jobs in new ‘green’ technologies. Development
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
and implementation of renewable energy project in rural areas can create job opportunities and
minimizing migration towards urban areas.
Using renewable energy resources we saved non-renewable energy resources, which can have
positive effects on energy security and stability in the long term.
Renewable energy sources also offers a range of others exceptional benefits, including: a
decrease in external energy dependence; a boost to local and regional component manufacturing
industries; promotion of regional engineering and consultancy services specializing in the
utilization of RE; increased R&D, decrease in impact of electricity production and
transformation; increase in the level of services for the rural population; creation of employment,
etc. (Hepbasli, 2008).
However, there are some few disadvantages of renewable energy sources. The main barrier is
that renewable energy sources are not competitive with fossil fuels because of high costs of
investment and non-competitive price of output. However, in time, this problem will only be
lessened because of development and modernizing renewable energy sources technologies.
3. Renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic
Energy sector plays an important role for the Czech Republic’s economy and for the regional
energy security. Like in a many others countries, the main objective of energy sector is to satisfy
the energy needs of the Czech Republic for a long-term horizon. The key priorities of energy
sector are efficiency, safety, independence and sustainable development. Safe and secure supply
of energy can be reach by using of all available domestic energy sources in the most
environmentally friendly manner.
The Czech Republic has one of the lowest energy important dependencies in the European
Union, mainly due to its domestically produced solid fuels. It is an important producer of hard
coal and imports are limited to natural gas and oil. Coal is the main energy source for electricity
production. The second important source is nuclear power. The share of renewable energy
sources has also been increasing, although still below EU average.
The energy policy framework of the Czech Republic is set by the State Energy Policy adopted
in 2004. The basic priorities are to strive for independence from foreign energy sources;
maximize the safety of energy sources, including nuclear; and promote sustainable
development.
The main national instrument laying down the general principles of the country’s renewable
energy policy is The Act on the Promotion of Use of Renewable Sources (“Zákon o podpoře
využívání obnovitelných zdrojů”). Another relevant legal source is the general Energy Law
(“Energetický zákon“).
Addition of non-renewable energy sources (especially coal reserves), renewable sources
represent an important part of domestic sources and are likely to graduate develop in the future.
The Czech Republic started from a low share of renewable energy sources of 1,9 % in 1990.
which mainly consisted of large hydro energy plants built. In 2009 share of renewable energy
sources in gross production electricity reached 5,66% (Bufka, A. at all, 2010).
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
The Czech Republic is the third-largest electricity exporter in the European Union, after
France and Germany. Electricity generation is largely composed of domestic coal (60%) and
nuclear (32%), whereas natural gas (3.5%) is mainly used as complementary fuel. In the total
electricity production, share of renewable sources have increased during the years. According to
the ‘’Report on the fulfillment on the indicative target for electricity production from renewable
energy sources’’, in the 2004 the share of electricity production from renewable energy sources
in gross national electricity consumption participate by 4,00 %, and during the years the share
was: in the 2005 (4,48 %), in the 2006 (4,91 %), in the 2007 (4,74 %), in the 2008 (5,18 %), in
the 2009 (6,8 %). In the 2008, the largest electricity production from renewable energy sources
was from hydroelectric power plants, followed by biomass. In the same year biogas and wind
power plants were significant sources of electricity from renewable energy sources – they almost
doubled their output compared to the year before. The renewable energy sources share in
national consumption amounted to 8,3% in 2010 (Jirouš, F. at all.,2011).
According to the same report, among the individual renewable sources, the percentage share
was: hydroelectric power plants 2,42 %; biomass 1,40%; biogas 0,32%; photovoltaic systems
0,02 %; solar power plants 0,02 %; solid communal waste 0,0 1%.
According to the State National Renewable Energy Action Plan approved by the Czech
government on 25 August, 2010, national target is 13,5 % share of energy from renewable
energy sources in gross final energy consumption and 10 % share of renewable energy in the
transport sector energy consumption by 2020. Czech renewable energy policy is mainly driven
by EU policies and by the government’s efforts to increase the share of domestic resources in the
energy mix.
Table no. 1. Electricity generation from RES in 2009
Hydro
power plants
Gross
production
electricity MW
Share of
gross production
electricity %
Share of
gross dom.
consumption
electricity %
Share of
green
electricity %
Biomass
Biogas
Municipal
solid waste
Wind power
plants
Photovoltaic
systems
(licensed)
2 429 620,0
1 396 261,1
441 266,1
10 937,4
288 067,0
88 807,0
2,95%
1,70%
0,54%
0,01%
0,35%
0,11%
3,54%
2,04%
0,64%
0,02%
0,42%
0,13%
52,19%
30,00%
9,48%
0,23%
6,19%
1,91%
Source: Bufka, A. at all, 2010.
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
In 2009 the gross production of electricity from renewable energy sources has a total of 4,655
GWh. In 2008, produced 3,731 GWh. Gross production of electricity from renewable energy
sources and increased by 924 GWh (Bufka, A. at all, 2010).
State financial support of renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic is defined by the
price decisions of the Energy Regulatory Office. Producers can choose between a fixed energy
purchase price and so-called green bonus, which is a contribution to the market purchase price of
electricity. Many investors are, mainly because of these state subsidies, interested in building
small groups of wind power plants as well as whole wind farm (Belatka, 2009).
The Czech government plans to expand and develop the role of renewable energy sources in
its energy mix to meet its stated energy security objectives and its obligations under EU
directives. According to International Energy Agency statistics, the share of renewable energy
sources in total primary energy supply increased from 2 % in 2000 to 5.4 % in 2008. The share
of renewable energy ranks the Czech Republic in the twentieth position among the 28 IEA
member countries.
Table no. 2. Sources of renewable energy and number of objects
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Sources of renewable energy
Small hydro power plants
Biomass heating
Biogas Resources
Wind power
Solar thermal systems
Photovoltaics
Heat pumps
Total:
Number of objects
560
230
177
79
419
299
112
1876
Sou
rce: http://calla.ecn.cz/atlas
Priorities of the National Program for the energy management and the use of renewable sources
of energy are:
 Maximization of energy effectiveness and electricity effectiveness and the use of energy
savings;
 Higher use of renewable and secondary energy sources;
 Higher use of alternative fuel in transport.
It is important fact that generation of the electricity from renewable sources is supported by the
government of the Czech Republic. One of the reasons is to fulfill the commitment regarding
share of electricity generated from renewable sources at the total electricity generation. Signing
the Kyoto agreement, the EU accepted the obligation to increase this share up to 21%.
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
Renewable resources in the Czech Republic are understood in the following way: renewable
non-fossil natural energy resources which are wind energy, sun shine energy, geothermal energy,
water energy, soil energy, air energy, biomass energy, landfill gas energy, mud gas energy and
biogas energy. (Law n. 180/2005 from the Collection of Laws About the Support of Electricity
Production from Renewable Resources). They are using in electricity, heating, cooling and
transport.
According to the data of Ministry of industry and trade of the Czech Republic, in electricity
generation from renewable energy sources the highest share has hydropower (54%), than
biomass (31%), biogas (7%) and wind energy (7%).
The main barrier to the future development of renewable energy sources in the Czech
Republic lies in the grid connection procedure. Grid capacity was not sufficient for additional
RES-E installations, the electricity generated by PV or wind power plants shall be eventually
traded on the free market (Jirouš, F. at all, 2011).
3.1. Hydropower
Hydropower energy is one of the most important renewable sources for electricity production.
Water flows in the Czech Republic are governed by a total of five administrations. They are:
River Elbe, Vltava River, Eger River, River Morava and Odra River. Hydropower plants
represent about 3 % of total generation. Small hydroelectric power station in the Czech
Republic produce an average of 680 GWh a year, and 1580 GWh come from the large plants.
The Czech Republic is eight largest producer of electricity from small hydropower installation
(<10 MWe) in the EU. The installed capacity of hydroelectric power plants is over 1 GWe, and
represents 8 % of the total installed capacity of sources for electricity production. The achievable
potential is one tenth of the currently used output. In 2008 the highest share of renewable
electricity production came from hydropower and biomass. The total installed capacities of
hydropower plants are 2 202 MW. The highest install capacities are in the Středočeský region
(679,9 MW) and in Olomoucký region (662,4 MW).
3.2. Wind power
Wind plants produced 245 GWh in 2008. By the end of 2008, 150 MW of wind power had been
installed in the Czech Republic (Bufka, A. at all, 2010). Wind energy potential depends on
geographical and climatic conditions in a given region. It can be determined from long-term
measuring data of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic. It is estimated that available wind energy potential in the Czech Republic corresponds
to a power of about 2700 MW (Belatka, M. 2009). Since, this paper is focused on capacities of
wind energy in the Czech Republic, more discussion will be presented in fourth chapter.
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
3.3. Solar energy
On the surface of the Czech Republic turns solar radiation with an average intensity of 800
W/m2, depending on location and climatic conditions. According to the conditions of the
country, the photovoltaic system with 1 kW can produce 900 to 1,000 kWh of electricity per year
(ČEZ, 2007). Energy production from solar thermal collector was 202 TJ. Total area of glazed
collectors in 2008 was 165 000 m2 (Bufka, A. at all, 2010). Gross electricity production from
photovoltaics was 12,9 GWh. The best solar resources are located in Central and especially
South Moravia, around the city of Brno (Jirouš, F. at all., 2011). Greatest potential is in
photovoltaic systems for houses, and therefore most system could be servicemen on rooftops and
facades of residential buildings. Total installed capacity in 2010 amounted 1 959,1 MW. From
that, the highest level of installed capacities was in Jihomoravský region (442,8 MW).
3.4. Biomass
The most frequently used renewable resources in the Czech Republic is biomass (Obršálová, at
all. 2011). The use of biomass for energy purposes in the CR is supported in accordance with the
Biomass Action Plan for the country. The Czech Republic supports the use of biomass for
heating and investment, particularly at this time the Green Investment Scheme, which is in
contrast for example, from purchase of electricity from RES meaningful (Káňa, J. 2011).
According to the natural conditions of the Czech Republic, biomass has the highest exportable
potential. Around 70% of the biomass used for energy in the Czech Republic is used to produce
heat. However, biomass has limits, refers to transportation. Growing biomass for energy
purposes is only effective within a range of 50 km from its intended location of use. Gross
electricity production from biomass amounted to 1 396 GWh in 2009. Heat production from
biomass amounted to 15 463 TJ (without households) (Bufka, A. at all, 2010).
3.5. Biofuel
In the Czech Republic has traditionally been widely used as part of the anaerobic fermentation
technology of municipal waste water treatment plant. Biogas produced here is used primarily for
own need for operations (heating reactors, heating buildings, hot water). Development is
currently enjoying the construction of biogas plants. In 2009 it was used for energy purposes
259.6 million m3 of biogas, which is much more than in year 2008 (175.6 million m3). Most of
this increase involved in production biogas plants, where the volume of biogas produced
increased from 51 to 132 million m3 (Bufka, A. at all, 2010).
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
3.6. Geothermal energy
In the Czech Republic the share of large heating installation using geothermal energy is likely to
be marginal. From many studies identified at least 60 sites suitable for the production of
electricity with a total capacity of 250 MW and heat output for heating with about 2 000 MW. In
the far term, after additional research at selected locations, CEZ group identify the possibility of
building power plants with a total capacity of 3200 MW. These installations are relatively evenly
distributed around the country and their annual production will be about 26 TWh. One of the
hottest areas of the Czech Republic covers the Cheb and Sokolov basins. However utilization of
these two areas is limited by their inclusion in protection zones of the Františkovy Láznì and
Karlovy Vary spas (Myslil,V. at. all, 2005). The well-known geothermal project is Litoměřice.
Conclusion
Search for sources of energy which will not further affect the pollution of the environment,
resulted that renewable energy sources become part of a strategy of energy development in
almost all countries in the world. Considering required investment, developed countries are
leading in technology of development, implementation, and in using renewable energy. The
advantages of renewable energy compared to conventional fuels are numerous, and we can
extract the main reproducibility and total lack of emissions into the atmosphere. Renewable
resources are and the important factors for regional development.
The Czech Republic is one of the least dependent European countries from import of fuels
due to large reserves of coal, which is the main resource for electricity generation. Another
important resource is nuclear energy. The third important resource is renewable energy that is
slowly getting an important role in the energy market. In accordance with the national action
plan, country was set a target to increase the share of renewables to 13% by 2020. The Czech
Republic from the renewable energy sources used hydro energy, biomass, solar and wind energy.
Renewable energy sources cannot be the basis for future energy production in the Czech
Republic but part in the energy mix. Apart from the positive effects related primarily to the
absence of harmful emissions into the atmosphere, various studies and researches have shown
that the use of these energy sources required large financial investments in investment costs, the
energy is more expensive, and that their use should be based on a precise assessment of the
existing potential. It is important fact that generation of the electricity from renewable sources is
supported by the government of the Czech Republic. One of the reasons is to fulfill the
commitment regarding share of electricity generated from renewable sources at the total
electricity generation.
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International Journal of Social Sciences Vol. III (4), 2014
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