CZECH REPUBLIC

1. ENERGY, ECONOMIC AND ELECTRICITY INFORMATION

1.1. General Overview

The Czech Republic (CR) is together with Slovakia successor country of former Czechoslovakia, which was divided by January 1, 1993. The country is situated in the centre of Europe and has a mild climate. The country's topography is quite varied from plains, hills to highlands and mountains, and regions in the range from 200 to 500 m above sea level make up about 74% of the country. It borders with Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia (see Figure 1). It has almost no gas or oil and very limited hydro resources.

Figure 1. Map of the Czech Republic

The CR is a relatively small country of 78 864 square kilometres (land area is 77 276 sq. km) with a population of 10.2 million inhabitants at the end of 2002 (see Table 1). Three quarters of the population live in urban areas. The population density is 129 inhabitants per sq. km. The population is slightly declining, the natural change in population in the Czech Republic was -1.7 persons (in 2001) per 1,000 inhabitants.

TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database.

The development of the Czech economy since the year 1989 is characterized particularly by the process of the economic reform. In the year 1991, the main processes of the reform were started, such as liberalization of prices, de-monopolization of the foreign trade, introduction of the internal convertibility of the Czech crown and the beginning of privatization of small enterprises (e.g. shops, restaurants and workshops). This was completed during 1992 and 1993 and privatization of large enterprises commenced. At present, privatization is continuing.

The years 1990-93 are characterized by a substantial drop of economy caused, partially, by external influences (loss of market in former Soviet block, recession in Western Europe) and internal changes (restructuring of the production and loosening of property rights). The economic growth was restored in the year 1994. In the same year, the exigencies of primary energy sources (PES) consumption needed for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped significantly for the first time and continued dropping in subsequent years. The economic growth slowed down in 1997 and was almost zero until 1999 because of still ongoing privatization accompanied by weakness of governing structures and cyclic course of economic activity. At present, the economic growth is slowly increasing (see Table 2).

The energy intensity increased during the decrease of economic activity due to a significant share of inevitable energy consumption in industry (e.g. heating of buildings, hot water preparation and lighting) and the increase in consumption of electricity in households. For the whole time period concerned, the dynamics of reduction in final energy consumption did not reach the level of economy performance decrease. The energy intensity for electricity is almost constant because of increase in consumption of households, which were under-equipped.

TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database.

Table 3 presents the Czech energy resources and Table 4 its energy balance. Both primary and final energy consumption have decreased in 2001 in comparison to 1990. It is a good signal, which demonstrates the increasing efficiency of the economy. The decrease in the final energy consumption is larger than for the primary energy.

The structure of the consumption has changed even more substantially. (Brown) coal remained the main source of the energy. It still covers more than 50% of the primary energy sources. Regardless of the continuing trend of a decreasing rate, coal will remain significantly important in the future too; based on the present forecast, coal will cover about 40% by the year 2005. In 2001, the structure of primary energy consumption was: 53.8% of coal, 18.9% of crude oil and 20.1% of natural gas. Nuclear energy covers 7.2% including contribution of commercial renewables and hydro which is almost negligible (see Table 4). Coal is partially exported and almost all crude oil and natural gas have to be imported.

Significant changes are taking place in the coal mining industry, mainly the restructuring process connected with the final stage of the privatization process. The main obstacle in closing down of ineffective mines is social (unemployment).

Coal is still the main energy source in final energy consumption. Petroleum products due to road transport increase cover about 19%. The share of natural gas is almost the same, thanks to its use for households and heat production is required mainly by environmental legislation.

The energy sources for electricity production are quite stable for several years since the nuclear power plant (NPP) Dukovany is in full operation and the main hydro potential, which can not be further increased, was utilized. In 2001, the structure of total electricity generation was: fossil fuel (mostly coal) power plants provided 76.9% of total electricity generation, the only Dukovany NPP 19.8% and hydro power plants only 3.3%. After the Temelin NPP is commissioned, nuclear power will cover approximately 40-45% of electricity production in the Czech Republic.

TABLE 3. ESTIMATED ENERGY RESERVES

TABLE 4. ENERGY BALANCE

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