Czechia sinks EU cash into domestic green energy

Czech citizens who are interested in using solar power at their own home or company can rest easy, the subsidies for them will not end soon, Hospodarske Noviny writes. 

The Central European country has enthusiastically leaned into the construction of domestic solar power plants, and the lion’s share of the money that Czechia negotiated with the EU from the Modernisation Fund will go to these, the Czech business daily adds. 

Over EUR 1bn agreed with EU

A total of CZK 32​bn (EUR 1.27bn) will go to photovoltaics, and of this, CZK 20bn to family and apartment buildings from the New Green Savings Programme. This equates to some 125,000 new solar power roof panels for family houses, and companies will receive CZK 12bn crowns. CZK 10bn has been earmarked since mid-February. 

The New Green Savings Programme administered by the State Environmental Fund of the Czechia is one of the most effective programmes in the Czechia focused on energy savings in family houses and apartment buildings.

During the 2014-21 programming period, 77,000 beneficiaries benefited from its support and were paid a total of CZK 11bn. The programme focuses on cutting the energy consumption of residential buildings through insulation, building houses with very low energy consumption, environmentally friendly heating methods, renewable energy sources, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Czech fund more than tripled, gov’t focused on further plans

The Czech Environment Ministry expects to pay out CZK 500bn from the Modernisation Fund by the end of the decade, up from CZK 150bn calculated when the fund launched in 2021. The amount grew thanks to the increase in the price of emission allowances and the revision of its trading system. With the newly approved funds, Czechia has already received CZK 267bn.

“That’s an amount that could last us until the end of the year,” State Environmental Fund energy director Jakub Hrbek told Hospodarske Noviny. Later the other funding will be made available. “The programme doesn’t even  end after them: we intend it to function long-term, until 2030 at least,” Hrbek added.

After several months of negotiations with the European Investment Bank and the European Commission, Czechia recently agreed on nearly CZK 73bn – in addition to the CZK 32bn for photovoltaics – which includes funds for the modernisation and decarbonisation of transport, industry and heating.

Support of CZK 15.1bn is intended for revamping regional trains with electric or hydrogen propulsion. Another CZK 7.3bn will be invested in new public transport vehicles, including battery or hydrogen buses, trolleybuses and trams, which will replace diesel buses.

Minister backs large investment projects

Czech Environment Minister Petr Hladik said: “A number of individual projects in industry and the heating industry will also receive large subsidies. In the field of heating, we managed to defend investments of CZK 12.5bn for four large investment projects, in the field of industrial production, three succeeded with investment support in the amount of CZK 6bn,” he added.

Among the successful heating projects is, for example, Mondi Steti, which received 3.1bn to build a new biomass heat source, while the project to modernise nitric acid production at BorsodChem MCHZ received CZK 1.5bn, Hospodarske Noviny adds.