Slovakia Renewable Energy
The Slovak market for electric power generation is small compared to that of other European countries. The total installed capacity with all power sources was 7,728 MW in 2019. Approximately 54.7 % of the total production of 27,149 GWh of electricity in Slovakia was obtained from nuclear power stations, 21 % from conventional power stations, 14.4 % from hydro stations and 8.9 % from renewable sources. The total potential of renewable sources that Slovakia plans to utilize is approximately 27,000 GWh per year. This number includes renewable sources exploitable by technologies that are available and affordable at the market. There are good U.S. export opportunities to supply equipment and technology for production of electricity and heat from biomass, bio-gas, landfill gas, wastewater gas, photovoltaic, wind, water and geothermal sources.
Biomass has the largest technical potential 11,200 GWh per year, which is approximately 40 % of the total domestic production of energy in Slovakia. Geothermal potential in Slovakia is approximately 6,300 GWh per year, but currently only 145 GWh are being used, which is only 2.6 % of the total potential. Geothermal waters in Slovakia are being used at 64 locations (with a heating capacity of 280 MW) but more need to be built to heat networks, swimming pools, greenhouses and residences. The technical potential for large hydro power plants is 7,600 GWh, of which 62 % of is currently used. There are 25 large hydro power plants already built with an installed capacity of 2,446 MW. There is good opportunity to build more small hydro power plants. The solar radiation flux achieves a maximum of 1,100 kWh/m2. The technical potential of solar energy has been estimated at 5,200 GWh annually, which is about 20 % of the total technical potential of renewable power sources in Slovakia. There is growing demand for supply of photovoltaic power plants and solar panels for installations on roofs.
Compared to its market share in other Central European countries, U.S. market share in Slovakia is relatively low. European competitors are already well-positioned in the Slovak market. Major Slovak business representatives indicate they would welcome U.S. suppliers because European (mainly German, Italian and French) companies can be insensitive to local market conditions.
The Slovak market provides good opportunities for U.S. companies to supply equipment and technology for production of electricity and heat from biomass, bio-gas, landfill gas, wastewater gas, photovoltaic, wind, water and geothermal sources. Slovakia adopted a new clean energy and co-generation support scheme – introduced by an amendment to the Act on Support of Renewable Energy Sources and High Efficiency Combined Heat and Power (Act No. 309/2009 Coll).
The Slovak Ministry of Economy plans to launch the first auction soliciting bids for new producers of renewable energy. All successful local and foreign bidders that will receive feed-in premium payments on top of the wholesale electricity price under 15-year power purchase agreements are potential customers for U.S. companies. The Economy Ministry will accept bids for photovoltaic facilities with installed capacity from 100 KW to 2 MW, while the installed capacity for biomass, bio-gas, landfill gas, wastewater gas, wind, water and geothermal energy facilities can range from 500 KW to 10 MW. The maximum price for generated electricity is 106.8 Eur/MWh for all sources except photovoltaic and wind; and 84.98 Eur/MWh for photovoltaic and wind producers. The lowest bid will win. The pilot auction will support a total of 30 MW installed capacity. Much bigger auctions will be announced in near future as the government has committed to introduce 1,100 MW of new solar and wind electricity producing facilities until 2030 (650 MW solar and 500 MW wind). All the necessary information will be posted at the following website: https://www.economy.gov.sk/energetika/vyzva-na-predkladanie-ponuk-na-zariadenia-s-pravom-na-podporu
For more information please contact Office.Bratislava@trade.gov, or call +421 2 5922 3222.