Installed output of solar power plants tops 1,000 MW

Prague, Nov 8 (CTK) - The installed output of photovoltaic power plants in the Czech Republic has topped 1,000 megawatts already, and it keeps sharply growing, Energy Regulatory Office (ERU) vice-chairman Blahoslav Nemecek told CTK.

The output has reached 1,034 megawatts to date, while at the end of September it was at less than 800 megawatts.

There are 11,331 solar power plants in the Czech Republic at the moment. Since the beginning of this year, roughly 5,000 new solar power plants have been built.

The ERU estimates that by the end of this year, the total installed output of photovoltaic power plants will exceed 1,600 megawatts.

"If the construction continues at the current pace, I fear that the estimated 1,600 megawatts will even be a low figure," Nemecek said.

In the past week alone, installed output of solar power plants rose by over 40 megawatts and since the beginning of the year it has increased by almost 600 megawatts. Most of the installed output are large power plants with output above one megawatt.

There is a danger of a leap increase in electricity prices in the Czech Republic next year due to the sharp development of solar power plants.

The government has already adopted measures to curb the hike in electricity prices. It, for example, wants to impose a 26 percent tax on solar energy.

It also wants to introduce a gift tax on carbon emission allowances and raise the fees for farm land to be used for solar power plants' construction. The Chamber of Deputies is to vote on these proposals on Tuesday.

The Czech Photovoltaic Industry Association is of the opinion that taxing solar power plants would be disastrous for smaller investors. It has called on the deputies not to vote for the law.

It argues that, for example, the price of baseload electricity will fall next year and so the final price of electricity will not grow due to the solar power plants by more than 1.5 percent for households and by 5 percent for companies.

The association's president Frantisek Smolka has denied that the total installed output of solar power plants would exceed 1,600 megawatts at the end of this year. However, it will exceed 1,200 megawatts, he said.

The sharp increase in the number of solar power plants in the Czech Republic is related to high state support which has attracted many new investors in the field.

The new law will allow the ERU to be changing purchasing prices of electricity from photovoltaic power plants by more than the current 5 percent in a year-on-year comparison. This should partly stabilise the segment as of next year.

However, the ERU will be able to use the new law only next year. Many entrepreneurs are therefore trying to connect their solar power plants to the grid still this year.