Czechia

Czechia’s Solární Asociace says that the country installed 484 MW of solar in the first half of this year, nearly matching the 487 MW added in the same first six months of 2023. It notes that the residential PV market has cooled, but the corporate segment has grown.

Magna Exteriors and Woodburn Capital Partners have signed a 15-year solar power purchase agreement (PPA) in Czechia. The agreement covers energy generated on-site at a 2.4 MW solar plant located at Magna Exteriors’ site in the northwestern part of the country.

After finding growth in its home market and Poland, Czech Republic-based Woltair raised venture capital to expand its heat pump and solar PV software platform, used by both installers and homeowners, into Germany and Italy.

CEZ Group has developed a new solution for securing solar photovoltaics in areas of unstable subsoil from the central section of conveyor belts previously used in strip coal mines. Several pilots of the steel structure have already been deployed on a reclaimed area near the Bílina Mine in northern Czechia.

Scientists in Czechia have conducted a techno-economic analysis of a green hydrogen production system powered exclusively by photovoltaic and wind energy. The system uses surplus energy for water treatment and, according to its creator, can achieve a levelized cost of hydrogen of $3.12/kg.

Under Czechia’s new rules for agrivoltaics, farmers and developers will not need approval to change land designations and zoning plans for agricultural areas devoted to PV generation. The provisions currently only allow agrivoltaics to be deployed in orchards and vineyards.

A number of hydrogen projects are moving forward in the United States, Germany and Denmark. In other developments, the German state of Saxony is teaming up with other partners, including the Czech Republic, to set up a hydrogen network in Eastern Europe.

Czechia registered strong PV capacity growth in 2023, driven by a surge in residential installations. The nation’s PV association says it expects a shift toward larger power plants in the coming year, but notes the need for more energy storage capacity.

Scientists in Czechia have proposed to use parallel inverters in PV systems to not only reduce instability, but also to increase power yield. The proposed approach reportedly results in higher maximum power point tracking (MPPT) performance.

As Czechia reaches its solar potential, with impending changes to the country’s legislative landscape ushering in greater utility-scale solar array rollouts, over 5,000 attendees – government ministers, industry experts, and key business stakeholders – descended on Prague this week for the 2023 Smart Energy Forum.