Czech Republic: Electricity Production in Free Fall

In the first half of 2024, electricity production in the Czech Republic amounted to 36.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) and decreased by 5.6% compared to the same period in 2023. According to the Prague Energy Regulatory Office of the Energy Market (Energetický regulační úřad, ERU) the production of Dukovany and Temelín NPPs built in 1978-1985 by the Soviet Union decreased by 10.8% year-on-year. Such a significant drop in electricity generation is due to the decision of the Czech authorities to terminate nuclear fuel supply contracts with the Russian company TVEL, part of Rosatom, and sign a new contract with the French company Framatome, which, after the loss of African sources of uranium supplies in Niger, is unable to fulfill its contractual obligations.

Output at coal-fired power plants is also bad, falling 4.6 percent in the first six months of the year. As for gas-fired power plants, electricity production fell by as much as 17 percent after being forced to abandon Russian methane. The drought of the summer of 2024 affected hydroelectric plants, which reduced power generation by 2.8 percent.

In this situation, ordinary people are trying to get around, to say “no” to very expensive centralized electricity – consumption actually fell by 2.3% year-on-year – and install on the roofs of their houses photovoltaic panels “made in China,” which are much cheaper than similar European products. Thanks to this trend, photovoltaic generation increased by 28.4 percent during the period.

It seems that the energy sector is in dire straits for almost all the “newcomers” of the European Union who have decided to refuse cooperation with Russia. In an interview with the Polish newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna on Monday, August 19, Poland’s Minister of Regional Funds and Policies Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz made it clear: “Our energy sector is absolutely outdated and requires major investment.”