Beginning in July, apartment buildings in the Czech Republic will utilize more electricity generated by rooftop solar panels. Since January last year, apartment owners have been able to invest in rooftop solar panels and consume the electricity produced based on an agreed-upon distribution.
Currently, if a building does not have a storage battery, households can only consume electricity at the moment the solar panel produces it, mainly during the day. Any unused electricity flows into the grid. However, new regulations will allow for electricity to be distributed in several rounds, primarily benefiting apartment buildings and smaller energy communities.
For instance, if two households built a power plant and each had a half share of the electricity produced, but only one consumed the electricity during the day, the second half of the electricity would be sold into the grid, which is not profitable. This is set to change in July.
The Electrical Energy Data Center will begin operations in July. Those interested in sharing electricity remotely, for example, from a power plant on the roof of a cottage to their city apartment, will register with the center. To share electricity, a progressive electricity meter, which measures electricity consumption and production every 15 minutes, will be required.
Those who want to get the meter for free will register with the data center and apply for the meter from their distributor, who will replace the old meter with a new one within three months. However, according to René Neděla, the senior director of the energy and nuclear resources section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, sharing electricity will be possible earlier. “Distributors have informally confirmed to us that, in practice, they will be able to install the meter significantly earlier,” he said.