Analysis: Prague rooftops could provide solar energy for 120,000 households

Solar panels installed on the roofs of Prague houses could provide electricity for some 120,000 households, suggests an analysis carried out by the company EkoWATT. Rooftop energy could therefore significantly increase the overall amount of electricity generated by the city’s solar power plants.

According to one of the country’s biggest electricity suppliers, Pražská energetika, there are currently around 1,600 photovoltaic power plants in the Czech capital. Based on data from the Energy Regulatory Office, they provided 21.9 GWh to the electricity grid in 2019.

The study, carried out by EkoWATT for the Alliance for Energy Self-sufficiency, suggests that the figure could be 22 times higher in the future. According to their estimates, solar panels installed on rooftops could generate over 482 GWh of electric energy.

Jiří Beranovský from the company EkoWATT says rooftop solar panels could generate between 472 to 675 megawatts of electricity, which could cover between 120,000 up to 170,000 households. That means every fourth or fifth Prague household could only live on solar energy, he says.

The analysis by EkoWATT only takes into account family and apartment houses and doesn’t include other types of buildings, such as office, industrial or public buildings.
It also takes into account various limitations, such as the orientation of the roof or the unwillingness of the house owners to take part in a joint investment.

“The transfer to solar energy could be accelerated by joint purchases of solar panels, loans from the city authorities for funding private projects or by the establishment of citizen energy communities.

“Cities could also help by reducing the bureaucratic burden, creating solar maps, and setting up clear rules for solar projects in heritage protected areas,” Martin Sedlák from the Association of Modern Energetics concludes.