Solar Cells Info

Busanovice, Jan 29, 2007
Source:
story copyright 2006 CTK Czech News Agency.
http://www.praguemonitor.com/ctk/?story_id=w51069i20070130

Korowatt said it opened the largest solar power station in the Czech Republic and eastern Europe in Busanovice, southern Bohemia, today. The facility with a maximum planned output of 600 kilowatts can supply energy to 172 households. Construction costs amounted to CZK 85 million, of which nearly CZK 30 million came from the Industry and Trade Ministry. The power station was connected to the distribution network today, with permanent operation to be launched on February 1.

Thanks to the state subsidy, the costs of building the power station will return in ten years, the operator said. The lifetime of the facility is roughly 25 years. The power station should be extended by the end of this year. Its output would then reach 1.2 megawatts.

Despite good conditions for energy production in solar power stations, the Czech Republic lags markedly behind the neighbouring Germany and other western European countries in this respect. The output of all solar power stations in the Czech Republic hovers around one megawatt, compared with almost 800 megawatts in Germany as early as 2004.

In line with an agreement with the European Union, the Czech Republic has to produce eight percent of electricity from renewable resources in 2010, that is, twice as much as it produces at present.

The largest electricity sources in the Czech Republic and the largest power station and the largest solar power station in the world (measured by output):

Prunerov (coal-fired) 1,490 megawatts
Temelin (nuclear) 2,000 megawatts
Busanovice (solar) 0.6 megawatts
Podmileska vysina (wind) 7.5 megawatts
Orlik (hydroelectric) 364 megawatts
Kasiwazaki-Kariwa (Japan, nuclear) 8,212 megawatts
Wuerzburg (Germany, solar) 12 megawatts