The share of renewables in fuels will increase to 30 %

Week in Slovakia

Monday – 4th April 2011

The total direct subsidies from the state budget for the mining sector in Slovakia has reached 44,61 million Euro during the period 2005 -2010. Almost 27 mill. Euro was allocated to coal mining and 18 mill. For falloff of the ore-mining. The results were presented in the analysis drafted by the Ministry of Economy SR on functioning of the state support for mining. Coal mining in upper Nitra is according to the MoE SR a significant source of employment and social securities in the region, therefore it will be necessary to continue with its support also in the future. „Concerning state support for coal mining sector in the future, state subsidies will not be aimed at opening or make access to new coal sources and coal extraction. We will support those coal mines that will end their operation in line with the plan to shut them down until 31st December 2018. Operation of these coal mines has to be definitely ended according to the plan,” states the analysis.

A company from Trnava, VUJE will work out an actualization of the safety and security systems projects of Nuclear power plant Bohunice V2 and Nuclear power plant Mochovce. The analysis which was ordered by Slovenské elektrárne which is the operator of the two power plants will cost 2 million Euro.

A new boiler house will be built in Nové Zámky until the end of this year. The particularity of the new boiler house is that it will burn biomass. The new boiler will be placed in the already existing boiler house. The total costs of the project should reach 4,5 mill. Euro. As Štefan Tóth from the company that will invest in the project said, the modernization of the heat production system will not only lower operation costs for the input sources, but also lower gas consumptions. The new boiler will burn approximately 17-thousand tons of processes wood a year. The total installed capacity of the boiler house will be 6 MW.

Tuesday – 5th April 2011

Minister of Economy Juraj Miškov has reaffirmed the Austrian side that Slovakia is ready to undergo a security inspection of the nuclear plants at any time. Miškov has also expressed his belief that the two nuclear plants in Slovakia are safe. Austria hopes that the prepared stress test will contribute to a higher safety of nuclear energy in Europe.

The Civic association „No to oil pipeline through Žitný island” has called upon minister Miškov to publish alternative routes of the oil pipeline Bratislava – Schwechat. The Ministry has reacted by stating that the pipeline will definitely not got via the Žitný island, however the final route will not be presented yet. As Liliana Rástocká from the association reminded, that the route was supposed to be publicly known at the end of March. As the Ministry explained, this information is a sensitive one and if published, it could harm the interests of Slovakia. Currently the resort is still negotiating with all involved parties. The information will be revealed after everything is set so that any speculators, who would like to earn money by dealing with lands over which the pipeline will lead. „The fact that the pipeline will nod lead via Žitný island was already declared in the program of SaS and is also part of the government´s manifesto. For me it means that from the position of Minister I can guarantee that the route will be different,” stated Minister Miškov.

The European Union is not satisfied with the speed at which Slovakia is putting out of operation nuclear power plants. As Ivana Janíková Starvrovská, the press secretary of the European Parliament in Slovakia informed, the European deputies have criticized Slovakia, but also Bulgaria and Lithuania for a number of reasons. These three countries are currently using financial support from the EU that are aimed at putting out of operation old nuclear power plants. The one in Slovakia is the Jaslovské Bohunice V1. „Concerning Jaslovské Bohunice, the deputies welcome the progress in fulfilling the program. However at the same time, they criticize the fact that the national Nuclear Fund did not allocate any money for the program.” Another point raised was that there are severe delays in reconstructing the system of physical protection, the project dealing with the so called historical waste and construction of a temporary storage of radioactive waste in Bohunice. According to the Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS), which is responsible for disposal of  nuclear in Slovakia, the current process goes completely according to the time schedule. JAVYS also states that the information about not giving any money is false and it gave more than 140 million Euro during 2007 -2010 and will allocate approximately 22 million Euro this year. At the end of this year the European Court of Auditors will also decide whether the EU should support the program also after 2013. Until now, Slovakia has received more than 600 million Euro from the EU in order to discard the old power plants.

The minimum share of renewable energy sources in fuels during combined generation of electricity and heat will increase from 20 to 30 %. As the law amendment  on support for renewable energy sources that was approved by the National Council SR, purchasing so called green electricity generated in co-generation installations will only be supported if the fuel used during the process will include at least 30 % of renewable sources. According to Ján Matuský from the Institute for Energy Security the new law is a positive message. Thanks to this amendment, Slovakia is among the first countries of the European Union that introduces support for bio-methane. The aim is to support bio-methane not only for electricity generation, but also for heat production. The amendment should also include aero-thermal and hydrothermal energy under the category of RES and also bioliquid should be defined as liquid fuel produced from biomass and used for other energy purposes than transportation. 

Wednesday – 6th April 2011

The territory of Slovakia holds 80 deposits of  energy resources. As the analysis of the Ministry of environment of SR reveals, the deposits hold more than 1 billion tons of raw-materials suitable for energy generation. However, more than half of the reserves can not be used or extracted at the moment. These sources acquire for more than 700 million tons. The biggest reserves we have are brown coal and lignite, these represent approximately 1 billion. The remaining 121 million tons are sources of anthracite, natural gas, gasoline, uranium, non-parrafinic and mid-parrafinic oil. Active extraction can be currently found in 24 deposits.

According to the Office for Nuclear Safety, the operation of the two nuclear power plants in Slovakia was safe and reliable last year. During 2010 no major events happened in Jaslovské Bohunice or Mochovce that would lead to issuing a order to lower their output or putting out of operation a reactor or even halting the operation of the whole power plant.

The opposition party Smer-SD did not succeed in passing their law amendment in the National Council of SR that would halt privatization of the six heating companies. Only 69 of the 147 attending deputies voted for their amendment. „Due to the fact that these companies are important from a regional perspective, they represent key companies for securing heat and hot water in the regions  and are also important employers, we advice that 100 % of share should be kept in the hands in the National Property Fund of SR and should not be sold,” states the proposal of Smer-SD.

The government of Iveta Radičová has changed their opinion on the heating companies. Towns will receive 5 % of the shares in the heating companies and also one place in the board of trustees.  The towns will also have the possibility to call for a plenary session. „It is a compromise that follows a specific goal which is heating companies of great quality,” said Marián Minarovič, the Secretary General of the Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia (ÚMS).

Thursday – 7th April 2011

Slovenský plynárenský priemysel, a.s. (SPP) did not submit a proposal for changing the price for gas for households. However, the price could increase as a result of an increase of the world prices for oil products. „We are monitoring and evaluating the situation. And for the moment this is all that I would like to say about it,” said Dušan Randuška, director of the division for gas trading at SPP. The Regulatory Office for Network Industries of SR (ÚRSO) confirmed that SPP did not ask for a change in the prices. As Miroslav Lupták, the spokesman of ÚRSO said, the office can also change the price if it concludes that the situation on the world market requires such a step. The prices for households were changed at the beginning of this year when they increased by 4,47 %.

President of SR Ivan Gašparovič has signed the law that abolishes the procedure when companies had to first approve their price proposals at a plenary session and then send it to the Regulatory Office.

Financing greening of production in order to meet the regulation on emissions is very costly and a lot of companies will not be able to carry the burden on their own. These are the results of the study on the implications of the EU regulation on industrial emissions and energy sector that were presented by Iva Fabušová from the company PROEN. The costs should be approximately 360 – 1010 million Euro. On the contrary, Jozef Škultéty from Slovenské elektrárne thinks the regulation will have also some positive effects. It will make the legislation easier and also supports innovative technologies. However, he also admitted that it will increase the investment costs for companies and therefore it is more than likely that it will affect also prices for energy. Iva Fabušová and Jozef Škultéty were speakers at the conference „Industrial emissions – impacts of legislative changes on industrial companies related to emitting emissions.”

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