Czech Prime Minister Czech Petr Necas announced plans earlier this month to significantly increase Czech nuclear power production by building new reactors at existing nuclear plants. In an email interview, Andrej Nosko, a doctoral student at Central European University, discussed the Czech energy sector.
WPR: What is the breakdown of Czech energy consumption, in terms of fuel types and sources?
Andrej Nosko: The majority of Czech final energy consumption is comprised of domestic solid fuels (12 percent), imported petroleum and products (26 percent), gases (26 percent) and electricity (19 percent). Electricity is generated mostly by coal-powered plants, which rely heavily on domestic solid fuels. Almost a third of the electricity is generated by the Czech Republic’s two nuclear power plants: Dukovany, which is the older of the two, and Temelin. The Czech Republic has only minor domestic sources of gas and oil and thus imports the majority of its primary hydrocarbon energy resources. There has also been an increase in renewable electricity generated through solar recently.