Solar Boom in Czechia: 83 Thousand Solar Systems Installed in a Year
In the Czech Republic, the use of solar energy is rapidly increasing — in 2023, the country installed nearly 83,000 new solar power stations. For comparison, in 2019, just over 3,400 such systems were installed in the Czech Republic, according to Radio Prague International.
According to data from the Czech Solar Energy Association (Solární Asociace), the solar photovoltaic stations installed in the Czech Republic in 2023 have a total capacity of over 970 MW, which is 236% more than the 288.8 MW installed in 2022. The leader in this field has been domestic solar power stations, accounting for 823.3 MW of capacity. The average capacity of domestic solar photovoltaic stations in the Czech Republic exceeded 10.3 kW, up from 6.7 kW in 2022. Approximately 92% of households opted for solar systems with average 12 kWh capacity batteries.
Additionally, according to Solární Asociace, nearly 140 MW of capacity in 2023 was installed by the commercial and industrial segments for self-consumption. This was mainly due to subsidies offered under the existing National Recovery Plan in the Czech Republic.
Investments in this type of technology in the Czech Republic also increased significantly, reaching nearly 45 billion Czech crowns (approximately 1.77 billion euros) last year. It's worth noting that five years ago, this figure was less than 1 billion Czech crowns (around 40 million euros).
Recall that The Gaze reported that the French state railway company SNCF intends to cover approximately 15-20% of its energy needs with solar energy generated in-house by 2030.
SNCF President Jean-Pierre Farandu noted that the war in Ukraine was the driving force behind this decision. He stated, "Like everyone else, we had access to a large amount of cheap energy, but the war in Ukraine changed that, leading to a complete paradigm shift. Energy consumption costs have more than doubled just in 2022 and 2023, totalling over 700 million euros in energy used to power trains in just these two years."
Currently, over 80% of SNCF trains operate on electric power. The railway company is the largest industrial consumer of electricity in France, accounting for 10% of its share. Revenues from self-generated electricity are intended to support and expand the railway network.