Slovakia will probably see the construction of new wind turbines. (source: SME - Marko Erd)
When you travel to Austria from Slovakia, pretty much right across the border you will find yourself in a wind turbine forest. In Central Europe, Austrians are among the largest producers of electricity from wind; turbines with a total installed capacity of 3500 megawatts (MW) are in operation.
For comparison, wind farms in Slovakia can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand, and their capacity is barely a thousandth of that in Austria.
This could change in the foreseeable future. The plans of both the European Union and the Slovak government rely on a rapid increase in the production of wind electricity. Investors who want to pour tens of millions of euros into new turbines are piling up.
1) Why there are so few wind farms in Slovakia?
Roughly 20 years ago the country experienced the first wave of construction plants relying on renewable energy from the sun and wind. Unlike photovoltaic panels, however, wind turbines had a very weak start.
Only six have been built; in western Slovakia, one is located in the village of Vrbovce, Myjava district, and four are found near the village of Cerová, Senica district; the final one was in north Slovakia in the village of Skalité, Čadca district. However, this turbine was dismantled by its investor after a few years, because it was obsolete.
In the past, projects with a capacity of over a thousand MW were on the table. Then, however, the state limited the connection of new renewable energy plants to the electricity grid and curbed the generous guaranteed purchase prices for the electricity they produced. Until 2009, the purchase price for wind electricity was €84 per MWh; for solar electricity it was up to €448 per MWh. This was well above the level of electricity prices from coal and nuclear. The state wanted to support the construction of green energy sources.
When the Regulatory Body for Network Industries (ÚRSO) gradually reduced the purchase prices in the following years, it was no longer worthwhile for investors to build wind farms, recalls Ján Lacko, project manager of company WSB Invest, which intends to start building wind farms in Slovakia again in the coming years.
