The Czech Republic’s power industry
photo: (wikimedia.com)
The power industry in the Czech Republic primarily comprises production and distribution of all forms of energy, including mining and the use of energy sources such as coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, etc. It is the production and the distribution of electric energy that plays the principal role in the Czech power industry.
The production of electricity in the CR is provided by the following types of power plants:
Thermal power plants
Thermal power plants produce the largest amount of electric energy from all power plants in the CR, more precisely over 57% (in 2010). They are usually situated in locations with deposits of coal (especially brown coal) and in the vicinity of rivers. You will find thermal power plants e.g. near the cities of Sokolov, Most, Ostrava, Mělník, Chvaletice and Opatovice.
Nuclear power plants
Nuclear power plants produce 33% of all electricity produced in the Czech Republic. There are two of them in our country: Dukovany and Temelín.
Hydroelectric power plants
These power plants produce about 3.63% of country’s electricity and the largest ones are the dams built on the Vltava River (Lipno, Kamýk, Slapy, Orlík, Vrané).
Wind and solar power plants
Wind and solar power plants produce nearly 1% of all generated energy. They are located in places offering favourable conditions such as the Jeseníky and Orlické mountain ranges. The largest wind power plants in Jeseníky include e.g. Mravenečník, Ostružná, Mladoňov and Velká Kraš. The biggest solar power plant was built in the neighbourhood of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant. Small wind and solar power plants run by various companies are spread throughout the country.
The dominating producer of energy in the CR is the company ČEZ as 75% of the overall production comes from their plants. It currently runs 10 coal-fired, 2 nuclear and 12 hydroelectric power plants and 1 wind and 1 solar power plant.