BUSINESS

Energy Prices are Troubling

Czech Industry. Companies are Looking for Ways to

Reduce Expenditures.

Energy prices have increased exponentially over the past year. This has forced many companies to search

for ways to decrease spending in order to avoid having customers shoulder the burden of increased

production costs. “Interest in our economical solutions has grown dramatically in the past couple months.

Fortunately, for our customers, our stable supply chain will allow us to realize these projects by the end

of this year,” Vladimír Hanák, Veolia Energies business development manager, told us.

Are companies beginning to feel the effect of the

ever-increasing energy prices?

I would definitely say yes. Everyday, we receive

dozens of phone calls not only from private company

representatives, but also municipalities and healthcare

providers looking for solutions to decrease their energy

expenditures. These customers generally choose to

replace their lighting units or purchase a photovoltaic

power plant, maximizing savings, however, it would

ideally include a combination of these measures.

You mentioned that recently, your customers are

asking to have their lights replaced. What kind

of customer might be interested in this service?

Lighting unit replacement is a great solution to

essentially anyone looking to save money on lighting.

The amount of money our customers can save

depends on their current lighting system and their

operating hours. Customarily, however, our solutions

offer savings ranging from 57 to 88 percent.

Most often, we replace outdated suspended sodium

lamps with LED lighting. Certain spaces only require

the maintenance of light points and a replacement of

old lamps with new ones. We implement our solutions

on a turnkey basis, which means that we take care of

the disassembly of the old lighting system, including

ceiling cleaning, and ecological disposal of any

building materials along with the original lights.

Can your lighting replacement solutions be

implemented in a way that does not disturb production?

We always realize our projects in a way that does not

disturb the flow of production. We are flexible, which

means that we can adapt to the work schedule of any

company.

Photovoltaic power plants are another solution you

offer. Is the field of photovoltaics also experiencing

new innovations?

Yes, it is a field that is continuously being perfected. For

example, we offer solar panels that turn their photovoltaic

cells towards the sun, thereby following the sun’s

path throughout the entire day and increasing energy

production efficiency. We also provide double-sided

panels that are installed on a special type of foil that reflects

incoming sunlight. This solution also helps increase the

power plant’s efficiency. Furthermore, solar panels no

longer have to only be located on the roof of a building,

they can now also be mounted on walls, perpendicular

to the ground. This offers great future potential for

agrophotovotaics on farmland or hydrophotovoltaics. We

are able to include these new technologies in any of our

project proposals because we are working with a dozen

of the largest global photovoltaic panel producers.

What does the financing of these ecological projects

look like?

As far as lighting replacement is concerned, making

use of so-called energetics services with guaranteed

savings, also known as EPCs (Energy Performing

Contracts), is becoming increasingly popular.

The advantage of this particular solution is that

the investment is paid off from the savings themselves,

meaning that the supplier contractually guarantees

them. This way, companies are not compelled to make

a large one-time investment, which they might have

had to cover by taking out a loan.

When installing a new photovoltaic power plant,

customers can make use of the National Recovery Plan

grant program, which covers 35 percent of eligible

costs, and half of the expenses for battery storage on

top of that. Needless to say that we offer our customers

an order-made overview of their grant options as well

as an analysis and recommendation of whether asking

for the grant will be worthwhile for them.

What other services do you offer within the scope of

your projects?

We essentially offer a complete turnkey implementation

of our solutions. We aid our clients in gathering the

necessary information for savings calculations and

project proposals, we take care of any necessary

documentation for the building permit, we assist with

connecting the new system to the electrical grid and

with getting approval from the fire department. We

also offer post-warranty service, or even energetics

management. One of our great advantages is

the fact that we employ a stable team of experts and

constructors, which means that the realizations of our

projects do not experience needless delays.

Mr Hanák, thank you for the interview.

Text a foto:

Veolia Energie

ČR, a.s.

POSITIV 3/2022 ǀ 31