The share of electricity from renewable sources was 3.7% last year, the Czech Republic lags behind Europe

The share of electricity from renewable sources was 3.7% last year, the Czech Republic lagging behind Europe

Solar and wind power plant – illustrative photo.

Prague – Production of electricity from renewable sources in the Czech Republic has been lagging behind for a long time. The share of solar and wind power plants in the total volume of electricity produced in the Czech Republic last year was 3.7 percent. This is significantly below the European average, as this share was around 22 percent in the entire EU. At the same time, the Czech Republic lags behind in the pace of growth of this production. This was stated on Twitter by the Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (for STAN).

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Wind and solar power plants in the Czech Republic produced over 2.52 terawatt hours of electricity in the first nine months of the year last year. In total, more than 62.24 terawatt hours were produced in the Czech Republic during the same period, most from steam and nuclear power plants.

The Czech Republic is thus significantly behind the European average in the development of renewable energy sources. One of the reasons is the slow rate of growth of such production. According to Síkela, the volume of electricity produced from solar or wind power plants in the country has increased by 13.6 percent over the past five years. In the entire EU, the increase amounts to almost 88 percent.

In this context, the minister therefore recalled some legislative changes from recent months, which should facilitate the development of renewable sources. This is, for example, an increase in the limit for the construction of a power source without a building permit to 50 kilowatts.

Even so, the development of renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic recorded record numbers last year. In the Czech Republic, 33,760 photovoltaic power plants with a total output of 288.8 megawatts were put into operation last year, which was a year-on-year increase of 366 percent. The average size of power plants is also gradually increasing. According to industry associations, growth will continue this year as well.