The Slovak government's energy policy is largely in line with EU regulations on liberalization. The utilities are in the process of privatization, with the government amending legislation enabling themselves to privatize majority stakes in strategic industries. Much of the privatization process has taken place.  The Slovak Electricity Transmission System company shall remain state-owned.  Slovakia is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports. The government is keen to diversify the sources of supply of these fuels, while retaining the country’s status as a transit country for Russian energy exports to Europe.

The Slovak market for electric power generation and distribution is small compared to other central European countries.  Electricity generation in the Slovak Republic is primarily dependent upon hydroelectric and nuclear resources with the balance in thermal plants (coal, natural gas, and oil).

The gradual removing of main barriers in the energy sector, primarily the elimination of cross-subsidies in pricing of heat and electricity, and factors like the unbundling of the vertically integrated monopolies, the high level access to the natural gas network throughout the whole territory of the Slovak Republic and the planned closure of the nuclear power plant Jaslovske Bohunice create favorable conditions for implementation of CHP projects on a competitive basis.

The table below includes summary information about Slovakia.

Slovakia Country Summary Table

In May 2009, Slovakia was brought to the European Court of Justice because their Transmission System Operator is not providing non-discriminatory access to the grid.  Slovakia gives preferential access to some market participants for the cross-border interconnectors with Poland and Hungary.  As this is a violation of the Directive, the Commission requires a non-discriminatory third party access to the transmission system from the Operator (Europa, 2009).

A map of the electricity grid of Slovakia is displayed below.

Electricity Grid of Slovakia

Much of the energy produced in Slovakia comes from thermal sources, approximately 70 percent.  Renewable sources, not including hydro power, make up less than 3 percent of the energy produced in Slovakia.  A pie chart showing the make up of the energy supply is displayed below.

Share of Primary Energy Supply for 2006

(Source: IEA)

2.  Energy Policy, Barriers and Incentives

The main priorities for the renewable energy policy are to develop the biomass sector, particularly for use in district heating, and to encourage a better awareness about the viability and reliability of renewable energy technologies in general.

According to the Slovak Energy Policy adopted by Slovak Government in January 2000 the targets are:

·          Utilize renewables and increase energy efficiency by support schemes

·          Implement and build new CHP plants

·          Increase renewables to 4 percent of the total primary energy supply in 2005

·          Increase the share of renewable and secondary energy sources

The policy also addresses certain issues within the energy sector such as:

·          The domestic coal production and questions related to the gradual slowdown of coal production.

·          Ensuring continuous energy supplies including in the potential cases of emergency.

·          Rationalisation of fuel and energy consumption.

·          Completion of construction of new capabilities at the Mohave nuclear power plant.

·          Disposal of atomic waste and atomic power plant equipment.

(return to top)

The annual technical potential for wind energy in Slovakia has been estimated at 600 GWh (Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, 2007).  Wind energy potential represents only 2.7 percent of the total renewable energy potential in Slovakia. The country currently has 5 MW of wind energy capacity installed.  Their newest plant, Skalite, came online in 2005 with 2 MW of capacity.  Slovakia also has approximately 150 MW of wind power planned (UDI, 2009).

The following figure is a wind map displaying the wind velocities throughout Slovakia.  As shown, the greatest resource is near the country’s northern border.

Slovakia Wind Resource Map (Source: 3Tier)

(return to top)

Biomass represents the largest potential renewable energy supply in Slovakia. However, at present biomass only provides a negligible amount of energy in Slovakia.  The annual biomass potential in Slovakia is estimated to be approximately 34,500 GWh, and the technical potential is 33,400 GWh (Intelligent Energy, 2005).  The biomass resources available in Slovakia include:

·          forest biomass—firewood, branches, stumps, roots, bark, saw dust

·          agricultural biomass—cereal and rape straw, hemp, animal excreta, wastes

·          wood working industry wastes—trim, chips, saw dust

·          municipal refuse—solid combustible waste, landfill gas, sludge gas

Despite the extensive use of forestry wastes for energy production, it is estimated that only 10 percent of the potential resources are currently being utilized. The significant amount of forestry byproducts could potentially be used to generate electricity on a large scale, or more efficiently used to supply for heat residential and industrial needs.  The Slovak government plans to develop different aspects of biomass energy including

·          Co-firing (burning coal with wood chips).

·          Gasifying wood in thermal plants.

·          Utilization of biogas in smaller power plants.

·          Utilization of forestry and agricultural biomass for energy purpose.

Many boilers have been installed in public buildings with support from the BIOMASA Association.  Approximately 45 pellet boilers have been installed with a total capacity of 13 MW.  Bioenergy in the municipal heating district is also being strongly developed.  Currently, about 6 pellet and 16 briquette producers exist in Slovakia.  It was estimated that 20,000 tons of pellets and 40,000 tons of briquettes were produced in 2005 (Intelligent Energy, 2005).

The table below displays Slovakia’s biomass resource data.

Slovakia Biomass Resource Data

(return to top)

The Slovak Republic is situated between 48 and 50 degree geographic width. Solar radiation flux achieves a maximum of 1,050 kWh/m² per year.

Significant solar energy potential is available for passive solar heating systems, especially in public buildings. There is also potential in large-scale solar thermal systems for district heating, though no such facilities currently exist in Slovakia.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology shows promise in areas that currently have no electricity supply.  However, the electric grid currently covers 98 percent of the country.  Development of PV technology by private companies for marketing purposes is possible as well.  Recently, the government of Slovakia set a goal to produce 10 GWh of power using PV installations by 2015 (Slovak Spectator, 2009).

Slovakia Solar Direct Normal Insolation (Source: NASA)

Slovakia Solar Global Horizontal Irradiance (Source: NASA)

(return to top)

Slovakia is a country rich in low enthalpy geothermal sources. Geothermal water is used for recreation (swimming pools and spa), agriculture (greenhouses heating and fishery) and district heating.  The efficiency of geothermal use is about 30 percent because of seasonal use.  Geothermal waters in Slovakia are used for agricultural farms (in some cases, greenhouse and soil heating), space heating, fish farming, and recreational purposes.  A heat flux map of the country can be found below.

Heat Flux Contour Map of Slovakia

(Source: Energie-Atlas)

The potential of geothermal energy is about 21,456 TJ/year. Slovakia has good conditions for developing and using energy from thermal water.  In Slovakia, the temperature rises on average 3 °C per 100 m of well. Geothermal water supplies are divided by potential into renewed supplies and non-renewed supplies.  The table below shows some areas of geothermal potential.

Potential Geothermal Energy Locations

Geothermal waters in the Slovak Republic are being utilized at many locations offering an aggregate heating capacity of 188 MWt and generation of 3,034 TJ/y.  Slovakia has 27 prospective areas of geothermal resources with temperatures up to 150 °C and at depths up to 5,000 m. The most abundant of them is the Kosice with potential of about 300 MW, where eight planned pairs of wells with an output of about 100 MWt to be used for central heating of the city of Kosice have hit Phase One of the implementation.

(return to top)

Slovakia has a total of approximately 2,415 MW of hydroelectric capacity with another 690 MW of planned capacity (UDI, 2009).  Much of the hydroelectric development in Slovakia is throughout the Váh River valley, including its main tributary, the Orava River. The Váh basin takes up about 22 percent of Slovakia's area, and the hydroelectric development there accounts for 47.6 percent of Slovakia's hydroelectric power potential.

The largest hydro facility in the Váh basin is the Cierny Váh pumped storage plant, which was brought online in 1982 and has an installed capacity of 672 MWe. There are now more than 20 hydroelectric power plants on the Váh River, with a total installed capacity of more than 1,600 MWe. Several years ago, storage reservoirs were completed at Nosice, Hricov, Krpel'any, and Král'ová and have created a sufficient reserve of water so many of the hydropower facilities on the Váh River can operate at full capacity, rather than half-peak. This has significantly increased the amount of power generation from the Váh River basin.

The largest run-of-the-river plant is on a canal parallel to the Danube River with a capacity of 720 MW.

Inland Waters of Slovakia

(Source: World Canals)

(return to top)