Update on Czech PV and ESS market as of March 3, 2023
1. Residential Sector in 2022 vs. 2021
- in 2021: 40 MWp/ 9300 PV plants
- in 2022: 237 MWp/ 34 000 PV plants
- avg size of PV plants: 8,5 kWp+ avg size of ESS: 12 kWh
- cca 95- 97% of new PV Plants incl. ESS
- new demand in 2022 (requests for grid- connection: cca 90 000 PV plants of 8 kWp (ie. 630 000 MWp); majority of them will be finished in 2023
2. Commercial Sector in 2022 vs. 2021
- in 2021: 23 MWp
- in 2022: 40-45 MWp
- 25-30% of new PV Plants incl. ESS
- note: there is a new pipeline of cca 1100 MWp based on subsidies from National Reconstruction Plan (RRF) which must be completed by end of 2024
3. Utility Sector
- nothing in 2021
- in 2022: 10-20 MWp; many big utility PV plants got started in 2022 but will be grid-connected in 2023 due to shortage of PV components
- CEZ confirmed to have 3000 MWp pipeline which means that it is on a good track to achieve 1500 MWp target by 2025 and 6000 MWp target by end of 230 MWp
- strong subsidies up to 50% of OPEX will drive the market strongly incl. Floating PV and AgrPV from 2023
4. Boom of Community PV market + AgriPV
- new subsidies from Modernization Fund (Komunerg Subsidy Program) covering 70% of OPEX will create a new PV market of 1,5- 2,0 GW by 2030 (city of Prague plans 800 MWp of PV rooftop plants+ city of Brno plans 200 MWp of PV rooftop plants, etc.)
- in April 2024 Czech Parliament is likely to approve an amendment of Law on Protection of AgriFund which will enable development of APV on agricultural land from Jan 2024; there will be special subsidies for APV announced from Jan 1, 2024 from Modernization Fund)
5. Forecast for 2023 -2027
– mid-term forecast of 4000–5000 MWp in new PV plants by end of 2025
Forecast for Year | Residential Sector (MWp) | C&I Sector (MWp) | Utility Sector (MWp) | TOTAL (MWp) |
2023 | 300-400 | 200-400 | 200-300 | 700-1100 |
2024 | 300-400 | 400-600 | 700-800 | 1400-1900 |
2025 | 400-500 | 500-600 | 800-1000 | 1700-2100 |
2026 | 400-500 | 500-600 | 800-1000 | 1700-2100 |
2027 | 400-500 | 500-600 | 800-1000 | 1700-2100 |
6. Long-term Forecast for 2023 – 2030
- cca 13 – 15 GW in PV plants
- 2,5 – 3,0 GW in ESS/BESS
7. Changes in Legislation
– In Jan 2023 Czech Parliament approved an amendment of Energy Law enabling from Feb 2023:
- streamlining of permitting procedures for new PV plants with capacit over 1 MWp incl FPV
- operation of PV plants up to 50 kWp without licence + energy sharing of produced PV energy amongst households+ development of community PV projects
– In H1 2023 there are 2 new laws to be approved by the Czech Parliament which will enable the following:
- support of AgriPV on agricultural land
- new framework for utility BESS operation+provision of FRS by operators of BESS (incl. stand-alone ones)
– both laws will become effective as of Jan. 2024
Changes for subsidies
- in October 2022 Czechia received another funds from EU for support of rooftop PV projects and corporate projects; these 2 segment have lots o funds till end of 2025
- there might be some positive changes in Nova Zelena Usporam (New Green for Savings) focused on low-income citizens – ie. Providing them with up to 80% rebate on purchase of new rooftop PV plants in the future