Imminent comeback, imminent trouble – pv magazine International

From pv journal 01/23

Arguably essentially the most politicized and vilified vitality supply within the Czech Republic, photo voltaic seems to be set for a long-awaited comeback. The nation’s first wave of PV progress got here in 2019 on the again of a beneficiant feed-in tariff (FIT). Virtually in a single day, Czechia turned the third largest photo voltaic market in Europe, with about 2 GW of era capability. Nonetheless, progress has been hampered by a sequence of retroactive interventions which have undermined the photo voltaic enterprise mannequin, together with a 26% photo voltaic tax launched, the federal government mentioned, to make the most of worth inflation. retail.

“In 2010, the federal government mishandled inexperienced vitality rules,” mentioned former setting minister Martin Bursik, who based the Czech inexperienced funding subsidy scheme. “The coal and nuclear industries, and a few politicians, have used it for an enormous offensive towards renewables. Consequently, we solely have a 14.5% renewable vitality share in our electrical combine at present.”

That is partly as a result of utility scale PV tasks have been banned for years and excluded from giant renewable auctions. “With the present vitality costs, even when the federal government launches photo voltaic auctions there isn’t any curiosity from buyers,” mentioned Jan Krcmar, chairman of the Czech Photo voltaic Affiliation (CSA). CSA knowledge reveals that solely 158 MW of photo voltaic was added within the 5 years from 2017 – with a measly 5 MW put in that yr for all the nation.

The Worldwide Renewable Vitality Company estimates that Czechia’s 2.1 GW of photo voltaic on the finish of 2020 will probably be 13 MW lower than a yr in the past, making it one among solely two international locations in Europe with a discount within the PV fleet. Former minister Bursik, who’s now chairman of the Czech Renewable Vitality Chamber, says that “there’s a type of psychological barrier that there’s not sufficient photo voltaic and wind within the Czech Republic to cowl our electrical energy wants and to -decarbonize. That’s, till now.”

Many causes

Two elements are driving the Czech photo voltaic restoration: excessive vitality costs and robust subsidies. Czechia final yr authorised CZK 14 billion ($613 million) in photo voltaic funding in key help packages. The New Inexperienced Financial savings Program established in 2015 gives capital subsidies for residential rooftop PV. Money for business and industrial (C&I) arrays is on the market from the Restoration and Resilience Fund which was launched in March 2022, and has been stocked up a number of instances since, with €300 million ($318 million) obtainable to this point.

An area engineering, procurement, and development companies firm mentioned that the C&I rebate affords a three-year return on funding so “the query arises as as to if the cash might be higher spent elsewhere, as a result of the photo voltaic is rarely a dangerous funding.” Lengthy delays in processing the 4,000 or so C&I subsidy functions filed by mid-October will probably be a deterrent.

“I might not say that the rebates are too beneficiant,” mentioned Radek Orsag, CEO of the native distribution firm SolSol and a member of the presidency of the Accumulation and Photovoltaics Guild. “Now we’re getting as much as 35% capex [capital expenditure] subsidy for photo voltaic installations and as much as 50% rebate for storage methods. Nonetheless, this will likely look beneficiant underneath the optics of at present’s vitality costs. “

Demand for battery storage is excessive, pushed by an getting older grid community. “The Czech low-voltage grid nonetheless runs at an uneven charge and has part metering put in in properties, which signifies that every of the phases is measured individually, and that makes it tough to make any good economic system of self-consumption with out the battery,” mentioned Orsag.

“Due to this fact, 95% of rooftop photo voltaic put in within the Czech Republic has a battery. We’re speaking about about 50,000 batteries in 2022, every at the very least 10 kW, so that is about 500 MW of storage capability solely within the sector of There may be additionally a mix of subsidies for warmth pumps and photovoltaics that may attain as much as €11,000 to €12,000 and that is an attention-grabbing proposition.

New regulation

The Czech authorities is seeking to enhance regulation to speed up the event of rooftop PV. The restrict for obligatory constructing permits elevated from 20 kW to 50 kW in December and an modification enabling vitality communities and vitality sharing is anticipated to be launched in mid-2023. The enterprise mannequin of vitality neighborhood examined in Prague with 20 households allowed to share extra photo voltaic electrical energy and solely pay distribution charges. Prague’s vitality sharing neighborhood is anticipated to drive greater than 500 MW of rooftop photo voltaic and embody 10,000 EV chargers this decade.

Internet metering can be anticipated, with suburban areas providing extra rooftop potential. “For the reason that Communist period, Czechs have had a practice of constructing chalets and cottages the place they normally spend their weekends,” mentioned former minister Bursik. “As we introduce the idea to a prosumer, they are going to be capable of set up PV of their properties on the weekend and profit from the sale of photo voltaic electrical energy in the course of the week, of their flats within the cities. We count on a giant enchancment in these micro and mini installations and it is usually necessary for constructing belief among the many converts.

Curiosity in utility-scale photo voltaic can be constructing, because of the Modernization Fund established by the EU in 2021 to assist 10 member states improve their grids and meet their 2030 vitality targets. Amid excessive vitality costs and stress on producers to enhance efficiency in environmental, social, and company administration, CSA chairman Krcmar says large-scale photo voltaic is aggressive even with out subsidies.

The result’s that corporations that constructed tasks 12 years in the past in Czechia at the moment are again. “They’ve constructed everywhere in the world, from Poland to Australia,” mentioned Krcmar, “and now they’re coming again to construct right here within the Czech Republic and have already utilized for subsidies. However whereas some have been destroyed, many of the tasks at the moment are within the pre-permitting stage.”

Large PV plan

EU modernization funds are assigned by means of aggressive calls and prioritize tasks in former coal mining areas. Tasks can insure as much as half the price of buying and putting in photo voltaic as much as a most of €280,000 per megawatt of era capability.

Czechia secured funding for 622 MW tasks within the first spherical of funding, starting from tons of of kilowatts to dozens of megawatts. Greater than 200 websites sought greater than CZK 10.4 billion in EU money within the second name for tasks, which closed in October.

“The utility scale sector is tough to foretell however in the mean time we now have round 6 GW of grid reservations,” mentioned SolSol chief Orsag. “A few of these tasks won’t be constructed resulting from allow points. Nonetheless, we will safely say that subsequent yr Czechia will change into a gigawatt-scale market and that about 2 GW to three GW of installations will probably be constructed between 2023 and 2025.

At present, nearly 98% of Czech photo voltaic arrays are on roofs. About 50,000 households utilized for the New Inexperienced Financial savings subsidy final yr, in accordance with authorities knowledge, greater than 4 instances as many as in 2021. A yr described as “completely groundbreaking” by the federal government noticed 380 MW of residential functions, with a median dimension of seven.5 kW. Business methods are anticipated to ship greater than 100 MW, and will take off this yr. “Properties and companies are lastly seeing photo voltaic as one of the simplest ways to decrease their vitality costs,” Krcmar mentioned.

Hassle within the making

The sudden improve in demand has led to a scarcity of expert staff, particularly installers. CSA Chairman Krcmar says the photo voltaic affiliation is engaged on certifications and coaching packages to handle the rising downside of untrained “YouTube installers.”

The utility scale PV sector can be not with out issues. Whereas the Czech electrical energy transmission system operator and distribution system operator say that 11 GW of photo voltaic will probably be linked to the grid by 2030, it’s tough to say how a lot era capability is within the pipeline for buyers checking the grid.

Czechia doesn’t have a clear system the place buyers can verify whether or not or not grid capability is on the market in a selected location. Consequently, they generally apply for the connection of many capacities all through the nation to see the place they should purchase land and this may, in flip, block the system.

“One other downside is spatial, or zoning plans, that are a neighborhood political determination,” mentioned Krcmar. “Some native politicians don’t need photo voltaic or wind behind them. So in the event you undergo that stage, which may kill the tasks, then you definately enter the classical authorization process the place not everybody within the Czech Republic of native councils and approval workplaces acquired the memo that the Czech Republic desires to construct extra renewables.

Krcmar added that there are stories that undertaking builders face “ridiculous obstacles” after they attempt to get tasks authorised. “We’re actually afraid that perhaps half of the tasks which have been chosen to obtain subsidies, by means of the Modernization Fund, won’t be constructed,” he mentioned. “That, in flip, will forestall buyers from getting into the Czech Republic and should kill the Czech photo voltaic market earlier than it may perform correctly.”

Krcmar mentioned the federal government ought to act rapidly and minimize purple tape to keep away from such a dire situation from taking place. Underneath the phrases of the nationwide vitality local weather plan, the federal government goals to have 4 GW of photo voltaic capability put in by 2030, up from the present 2.6 GW. Prague acknowledged that the goal was considerably conservative and more likely to be exceeded by a ways. Whereas there are nonetheless some catch-ups wanted to enhance public acceptance and ease rules, the clock is ticking on the Czech vitality transition.

“This decade is the final huge window of alternative for the Czech Republic,” added Bursik. “No, sooner or later there will probably be such giant funds obtainable for reforming our soiled, fossil fuel-dominated vitality sector.”