Slovakia to invest heavily in renewable energy sources

Slovakia intends to reduce its almost complete dependence on energy imports from abroad by stepping up its investment in renewable sources of energy. Whereas the government will be giving priority to biomass, solar energy and water power, private investors are also showing an interest in the increased use of wind power.

Wind power: investor run, government indecision

The picture at the Austro-Slovakian border near Bratislava is characteristic, reports Milan Hajossy for wieninternational.at. A small “forest” of wind turbines has already sprung up along the Austrian borders. There are now around a thousand such turbines throughout Austria. On the other hand, there are currently just five wind power stations with nine wind turbines and an installed output of 5.14 megawatts in operation in the whole of Slovakia. Investors in Slovakia have expressed an interest in constructing some 300 wind power stations with an installed output of 4,500 MW in 30 different locations.

Electricity utilities up in arms against wind power

Slovakia’s electricity utilities are already protesting at these plans. Their arguments: wind power is unreliable, weather dependent and subject to fluctuations that could cause problems when connected to the electricity grid. Furthermore, the growing number of wind power stations was already making the European electricity grid increasingly unstable. In Germany, for instance, wind power stations had significantly contributed to power outages.

Investors insist on guarantees

Investors are insisting on guarantees. Above all they are demanding a fixed price for feeding the electricity from renewable energy sources into the electricity grid. The electricity utilities are holding out against them. So far successfully. Investors are now talking about increased risk and in many instances are hesitating to implement major projects.

Wind power: projects on the drawing board

Nevertheless, Slovakia’s ministry for the environment has so far commissioned several major wind power projects, most of them in the West of the country. The biggest project to date has been reported by Energo-Wind, an Austro-Slovakian joint venture. The company wants to construct 20 to 44 wind power stations to a value of up to EUR 115 million in towns close to the southern stretch of the Slovakian-Czech border. These stations are scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2008. The firm of Green Energy Slovakia is planning a further 16 wind turbines valued at around EUR 54 million in three wind farms around the western Slovakian town of Nitra.

For your guidance: renewable energy currently accounts for 3.5 per cent of primary energy consumption in Slovakia. The Ministry of Economics in Bratislava intends to increase this figure to 6 per cent a year. Renewable energy sources now account for 16.3 per cent of electricity consumption, and is declining.

Water power, biomass and solar energy

The Slovakian government is currently stepping up the use of water power, biomass and solar energy. EU grants are one of the reasons for this. Biomass and solar energy are eligible for grants from the EU Structural Funds for the period 2007-2013. Slovakia is also receiving funding for this purpose from Brussels. However, this does not apply to wind power, which, according to the Slovakian Ministry of Economics, does not receive grants from EU Structural Funds. This is because wind power allegedly has too little usable potential. A survey carried out in the year 2002 showed that water power had a technical potential of 23,760 terrajoules (TJ), wood biomass 120,300 TJ, and solar energy 34,000 TJ, whilst wind power had just 2,160 TJ. Nevertheless, wind power supporters claim that it is one of the most environmentally friendly and most economic forms of energy.


Further information: New Hungarian wind farm on the border with Austria

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Slovakian portal for renewable energy sources (in Slovakian) Ministry of Economics (in English)

Information:

Potential for wind power generation in individual regions of Slovakia                           (in megawatts)        (in megawatts) Košice lowlands             1.200                200 Poprad lowlands                70                  25 Liptov lowlands                 30                  10 Donau lowlands               200                  50 Levice lowlands               126                  50 Total                            1.626                335 Source: Revue Životné prostredie (environment) 3/2006, pp. 133-136