<div>Mělnicko is launching the largest solar power plant in the Czech Republic</div>

Vepřek (Mělnicko) - In the village of Vepřek in the Mělnicko region, the largest solar power plant in the Czech Republic begins operations today. Briefly, it will even become the ninth largest similar energy source in the world. The construction costs are estimated at two billion crowns, the investor remains unknown, reports today's Hospodářské noviny.
    The power plant, which occupies an area larger than a hundred football fields, has an output of 35 MW, almost three times larger than the previous number one near Stříbro. It should produce enough electricity to cover the consumption of about 10,000 households. Larger solar power plants are currently only in Spain, Germany, and Portugal. The largest photovoltaic power plant in the world near the Spanish town of Olmedilla is with an installed capacity of 60 megawatts not even twice as large as the new facility in Mělnicko.
    According to HN, however, the investor remains unknown. The project is being built by FVE Czech Novum, backed by the Prague company Decci. The power plant does not present itself publicly and has shares in the name of the owner. Its representatives are involved in several development companies.
    According to HN, the project itself will increase electricity prices for companies and households by more than one haler per kilowatt-hour. "It is not possible to criticize entrepreneurs for taking advantage of market opportunities," said the secretary of the Czech Photovoltaic Industry Association, Zuzana Musilová. However, she added that such large projects should not be created. "In the future, we consider these megalomaniac projects unacceptable. Photovoltaics should be supported, but they belong on the roofs of family houses and companies," she believes.
    Solar power plants were originally intended to reduce the ecological impacts of electricity production and the Czech Republic's dependence on fossil fuels. However, they come with land use and increasingly higher electricity prices, the paper reminds. Next year, consumers will have to pay 30 to 40 billion crowns in electricity prices for so-called green energy, making electricity more expensive for households by up to a fifth. The increase in the number of photovoltaic power plants has indeed exceeded expectations.
    While at the end of the year all photovoltaic power plants had an output of 3.4 megawatts, a year later it was already 54 megawatts, and now, according to estimates, more than 600 megawatts are connected, and it is very likely that this number will more than double by the end of the year. Prime Minister Petr Nečas (ODS) wants the government to engage in discussions with operators of solar power plants and large electricity distributors. However, the state cannot unilaterally intervene in existing contracts with solar source investors, and there are few options for directly resolving the situation with producers.