WIND & CZECHS MATE

So what do you do if you live in eastern Europe and the Russians are holding you hostage to their oil and gas? You grow wind.

The quote at the bottom is interesting. Could it be that wise “deciders” understand that the advantages of wind in even an inadequate environment outweigh the disadvantages of fossil fuels and nuclear?

Czech wind power plants produce 132 pct more power in 2006
CTK, 23 July 2007 (Prague Daily Monitor)

WHO
Czech Energy Regulatory Office (ERU)

WHAT
Czech annual report: wind energy production of electricity was up 132% last year.
click to enlarge

WHEN
- 2006 electricity from wind energy: 49.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh)
- Jan-June 2007: up 40% from 2006

WHERE
- Report in Prague, the Czech capital
- Ustecky region, northern Bohemia: ~30% of total;
- Olomoucky region, central Moravia: ~20%
Czech wind potential (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Installed output 44 megawatts covered 14,000 households.
- Goal: 1,200 megawatts installed capacity in the next few years, the equal of one of the nunits at the Temelin nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia.

QUOTES
“Companies are increasingly interested in investment in the new wind power plants despite the fact that the country's conditions for such production are not good, some of the experts say.”