PRAGUE. MARCH 16. INTERFAX CENTRAL EUROPE - Czech government-controlled power utility CEZ plans to invest more than CZK 17 bln in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and promoting renewable energy sources by 2012, company officials said Friday.
"Our goal is to triple its 2005 output of electricity produced from renewable energy sources by 2020," CEZ Business Director Alan Svoboda told journalists Friday citing the company's Action Plan.
The planned measures call for additional expenses, bringing the total costs to CZK 17 bln by 2012, according to company spokesman Ladislav Kriz.
Electricity produced from renewable sources should reach 5.1 TWh in 2020 - three times the volume CEZ produced from renewables in 2005, CEZ said.
CEZ also plans to reduce CO2 emission in the Czech Republic by 15% and invest into foreign projects that would lead to reduction of the minimum of 30 metric tonnes of CO2, according to Kriz.
CEZ plans to focus on wind and biomass as prime sources of renewable energy.
"Wind energy potential can be used first of all due to available technologies," Svoboda said. "Strategically, however, we will also focus on growing biomass and insuring its availability in industrial scope."
CEZ plans to reach 100 MW installed capacity of wind power plants by 2012 and bring it to 500 MW by 2020.
The Action Plans also calls for CEZ involvement in European research and development (R&D) projects, including a pilot Near Zero Emission Power project aimed at dramatic reduction of CO2 emission by coal-fueled power plants, according to CEZ.
CEZ's CEO Martin Roman said last week that the European Union's goal of reaching a 20% share of renewables by 2020 is "unrealistic" under Czech conditions.