Investment in energy networks has to rise by Kc10bn per year - CEPS

Investment in energy networks has to rise by Kc10bn per year - CEPS

Prague, April 8 (CTK) - Investments in the Czech transmission and distribution system will have to increase by at least Kc10bn per year in the coming years to amount to around Kc39bn per year in total, power grid operator CEPS board chairman Martin Durcak said on Czech Television (CT) on Sunday.

According to him and other experts, the Czech Republic has a several-year delay in the development of some parts of the energy sector and must therefore speed up.

It will be necessary to provide money especially for building smart technologies into domestic networks, Durcak said. CEPS has already modernised a large part of its system, but now it is mainly the turn of distribution systems, where more technologies will be needed, he added.

In addition, the quantification of investments may not be final, Durcak noted. The amount of Kc10bn per year is based only on assumptions that CEPS and distribution companies can now estimate, he said.

According to Durcak, the amendment to the energy law regulating the conditions for the accumulation and aggregation of generated electricity should help strengthen the domestic grid. The higher the accumulation, the better the management of the system, he said. The Czech Republic is several years in delay in this respect, he added.

The development of domestic networks will also have an impact on energy prices for consumers. According to semi-state energy group CEZ board deputy chairman Pavel Cyrani, the country must accelerate the modernisation of the domestic energy sector in order to have competitive prices in the future. With the current delay there is a risk that electricity in the Czech Republic will be up to a quarter more expensive than in neighbouring Germany in 2030, he said on CT.

According to Cyrani, the Czech Republic needs to resolve its basic priorities as quickly as possible - the financing of nuclear units, the speed of shutting down coal-fired power plants and replacing them with gas-fired ones, and acting in foreign energy policy, where it is necessary to ensure the import of energy commodities from neighbouring countries under competitive conditions.

tam/er