Those harnessing the sun for generation of electricity received the most. (source: SME)
Slovak electricity consumers contributed a total of €464.7 million last year to producers generating electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) and through high-efficiency cogeneration, Radoslav Igaz, spokesperson for the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (ÚRSO) told vEnergetike.sk, a website dedicated to energy issues.
This year, consumers should pay even more to green electricity producers.
“The planned supplementary payment for this year for RES and high-efficiency cogeneration is €517.6 million,” said Igaz.
In Slovakia, production of green electricity is supported via a scheme of feed-in tariffs, in which producers of electricity from renewable energy sources sell the generated electricity for prices higher than those of electricity produced conventionally.
The end price of electricity for all consumers contains a special tariff for operation of the system. Within this tariff, they also support the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources and highly effective combined production of electricity and heat as well as support for coal mining used for the generation of electricity.
This method of support is often criticised as it increases the end price of electricity.
In Slovakia, there are roughly 2,700 energy sources, which are entitled to a supplementary payment from consumers for generated green electricity.
Out of the money paid out to green electricity producers, those harnessing the sun received the most - almost €210 million. Next with €93 million were electricity producers involved in cogeneration and biogas producers, who received contributions of over €64 million.
In the case of individual producers, the biggest supplementary payment last year went to the paper mill SCP Mondi in Ružomberok, €14.7 million. Its six biomass power sources generated some 167,000 MWh of electricity.
Slovintegra Energy generated via high-efficiency cogeneration 290,000 MWh of electricity and received €13.4 million. The heating plant, Považská Bystrica, obtained a supplementary payment of €13 million when it generated, via high-efficiency cogeneration, 271,000 MWh of electricity. The company Energy Edge ZC, operating two biomass-fired power plants, received €7.5 million. The steelmaker US Steel Košice produced 185,000 MWh via cogeneration and obtained €7.3 million.
