The Prague Post
August 22nd, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

Green hopes for solar plant

Eastern Europe's biggest sun factory now sits in south Bohemia

By Jana Donovan
For The Prague Post
February 7th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Six thousand square meters of solar panels transform energy from the sun into electricity at the Bušanovice location, which opened Feb. 1.
Global warming has become a hot-button issue in recent months, but Aleš Korosenský has spent years quietly working to improve Czech energy habits and clean up the environment.
Recently, Korosenský took a major step forward when his Korowatt company opened the biggest solar power plant in Eastern Europe in Bušanovice, south Bohemia.
Six thousand square meters (64,000 square feet) of photovoltaic modules — also known as solar panels — were installed to transform energy from the sun into electricity. The plant’s opening Feb. 1 coincided with the release of a major UN report that officially concluded for the first time that human activity is the main cause of global warming.
“I am a patriot. I did it because there seems to be nobody here willing to take the initiative,” Korosenský says.
Like other renewable energy sources such as wind, water and biomass energy, solar is seen as one answer to helping save the planet from emissions of carbon dioxide — the worst heat-trapping greenhouse gas, generated from burning fossil fuels such as oil, blamed for global warming.
But the Czech Republic lags behind its Western neighbors in developing alternative energy sources.
“The amount of energy produced by alternative energy sources is still on a very low level considering the potential the Czech Republic actually has,” says Martin Mikeška of the ecological organization DUHA.
While the Bušanovice plant will power only about 150 homes, in Germany thousands of homes are powered by the sun. In Portugal, a solar power plant that will eventually produce enough electricity for 8,000 households is being built.
Political realities are a key driving force behind countries’ decisions to seek energy alternatives.
“Solar energy’s advantage is it does not depend on the political situation,” Korosenský says.  “We don’t have to be afraid that somebody turns off the pipe.”
That fear was driven home last month when oil from Russia was temporarily cut off during a price dispute between Moscow and Belarus. A similar gas cutoff happened last year during a price row between Ukraine and Russia, which supplies the Czech Republic with about 60 percent of its energy needs.
Korosenský says he favors “energy independence,” an idea recently floated by U.S. President George W. Bush as a goal for the United States.
Calls for renewable energy
The European Union recently unveiled a major plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to avert climatic change. Among other things, the plan calls for member states to invest much more in renewable energy sources like solar power.  
The Czech Republic, when it joined the EU, had to commit to obtaining up to 8 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. So far, however, alternative sources provide only 4.5 percent of the country’s energy.
“Most likely we won’t be able to keep the commitment,” says Mikeška. “In 2010, we will probably be at no more than 6 percent or 7 percent.”
But interest in renewable energy has increased since a new Czech law on renewable energy came into effect in January 2006.
The law gives incentives to energy suppliers to develop renewable sources of energy by fixing the price that distributors pay. That price, which is higher than the market rate for traditional energy, is guaranteed for 15 years and is aimed at rewarding innovative “green” suppliers for making their investment.
Korosenský, whose company spent 56 million Kč ($2.6 million) to build the plant in Bušanovice (a further 29 million Kč was subsidized by the state), believes his investment will begin to break even in 10 years.
The Industry and Trade Ministry has earmarked more than 25 million euros ($32.3 million/702.1 million Kč) for other renewable energy projects, says ministry spokeswoman Kateřina Koubová.
Mikeška estimates that by 2010, about 2,000 Czech households will run on solar power.
But Korosenský is careful not to overvalue the importance of renewable energy.
“I am a realist,” he says. “As for solar energy, the Czech Republic is geographically on the edge of exposure to sunlight. We don’t have enough wind and not even enough rivers to go with it. These energy sources will always be only supplemental for us.”
According to Korosenský, the Czech future lays in nuclear energy. Also, newly developed methods such as burning helium can eventually help to wean the country from oil dependency. “Helium is as harmless to the environment as renewable energy sources,” adds Korosenský.
Still, for all his hard work, Korosenský is not holding his breath. “Czechs don’t have much of an environmental consciousness,” he says. “It’s a mental state, the result of years of political devastation.”

Jana Donovan can be reached at news@praguepost.com


Other articles in News (7/02/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.