Slovakia Plans to Increase Proportion of RES to 19.2 percent by 2030

Bratislava, December 11 (TASR) - Slovakia should increase its proportion of renewable energy from 12 percent to 19.2 percent by 2030, according to a draft national energy and climate plan (NECP) submitted by the Economy Ministry and approved by the Government on Wednesday. An increase to 20 percent was also considered, but after several months of comments on the original proposal, the Economy Ministry decided on a lower proportion. "Based on the comments sent within the interdepartmental comments procedure, the target of 19.2 percent was chosen because five entities directly supported the reference target and no entity expressed an opinion in favour of the 20-percent alternative," stated the ministry in the approved document. The cost of a possible increase in the RES proportion to 20 percent by 2030 has been estimated at €700 million by experts. The NECP's main quantified targets by 2030 are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for sectors outside emissions trading by 20 percent. This was increased from the originally declared level of 12 percent. In transport, use of renewable energy sources should increase to 14 percent. According to NECP, the industry and construction sectors will be key to achieving the objectives. A target of 27.3 percent of electricity production from RES has been set for 2030, which, according to the Economy Ministry, is at the limit of the technical possibilities provided by Slovakia's power grid. "One of the alternatives for increasing the total RES proportion in 2030 from 19.2 percent to 20 percent is in heat generation. However, this would mean higher biomass use, including biogas and biomethane production, heat pumps, solar panels and geothermal energy in central heating supplies," said the ministry. am/df