POSITIV 2/2018: strana 16

ROZHOVOR prepared properly. The situation in energy savings, however, is a bit more complicated. the ecologization sums up to 138 million CZK. We obviously are and will continue to be very active in the region. We all want better quality air to breathe; that is good news for the Moravian-Silesian Region too You are one of the leading CEOs in the Czech Republic who comes from the Moravian-Silesian Region, you have been awarded Manager of the Year. How much of that is thanks to the education and experience you achieved in this region? I highly appreciate this significant award as well as being one of the top managers of the quarter century. This region is where I was born, where I went to school, therefore I have been considerably influenced by growing up here. Even ČEZ closely collaborates with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Ostrava, my alma mater. I enjoy coming back to the university; I spent a wonderful time here, moreover, I still make use of my engineering education and skills. What exactly do you mean? The European Union has now agreed upon setting very strict goals in terms of the conservation of energy, which they are planning to reach by 2030. The promotion of energy savings has a clear logic and many businesses economize their operation simply because it pays back. After all, as a power company we suggest, design and implement energy saving measures in Czech businesses, cities, and settlements. Our daughter company, ČEZ ESCO, is renewing the infrastructure distributing heat, installing and running cogeneration providing new industrial boiler-rooms, programming smart systems for schools, hospitals, town halls, theatres, etc. I have mentioned ČEZ ESCO because I often hear that our company is against savings as our business is to sell companies as much power as possible. That is nonsense: energy-saving measures represent excellent business opportunities. All of Europe (the Czech Republic included, as we have been part of the negotiations from the very beginning) have agreed to an immense goal to decrease energy consumption by one-third by 2030. As ČEZ CEO and Vice-President of the Confederation of Industry, I have been communicating that we seriously need to struggle and make the target smaller: the huge savings will cost us lots of money. Considering the changes in energy production, what are the prospectives of the Power Plant Dětmarovice, and do you plan some development in supplying the region with electricity and heat? The MoravianSilesian Region is becoming a region with an energy deficit; are you, as a key business in this field, ready to significantly contribute to the betterment of the energy balance-sheet of the region? ČEZ considers the Moravian-Silesian Region one of the most important areas. The future of Power Plant Dětmarovice has been an urgent issue since the fire at the absorber. Our discussions have brought us to decide to invest in the renewal of the absorber. The power plant complies with the strictest emission limits that the EU will require only after 2021. I want to reassure the inhabitants of Bohumín and Orlová, whom we annually supply with over 800 000 GJ of heat, that power plant will definitely continue to provide them with heat. We also plan to develop the facilities in this area: from autumn 2018, the power plant will also provide heat to the Bezdínek farm in Dolní Lutyně, so that their large greenhouses might produce tomatoes all year long. The power plant is capable of producing heat from black coal as well as from natural gas. Another major resource we have in the region, Energocentre Vítkovice, is being significantly modernized. Its coal-fired boilers are being replaced with gas-fired boilers and cogeneration units. Emissions of sulphur oxides will go down by 100%, nitrogen oxides by over 90% as well the as emissions of solid pollutants. The total investment in 14 ǀ POSITIV 2/2018 You are a successful graduate and member of the Management Board of VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava. Do you personally or does ČEZ as a company and the university collaborate on particular projects in applied research or education and student recruitment? Great technicians are the cornerstone of success of Czech industries, and a few departments at Czech universities may boast of educating true experts. That is why ČEZ actively supports technical education, and I daresay that our system is one of the most perfected in the Czech Republic. As a VŠB – Technical University graduate, I am glad that this university ranks among the crucial partners of ČEZ, and I am also very happy that my department, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are among the 13 partner university departments whom the ČEZ Group closely collaborates with. I am sincerely pleased that VŠB students excel in activities and making full use of what ČEZ offers. We regularly participate in job opportunity fairs, organize meetings and lectures with our company experts and contractors, we guide excursions through our operations, offer topics and consultations for Bachelors and Masters Theses. I am glad that many students from Ostrava apply to our Summer University, a special two-week internship at the two nuclear power plants. The power plant complies with the strictest emission limits that the EU will require only after 2021. Municipalities and regions implement projects that affect the competitiveness of businesses and make the lives of their inhabitants easier and more comfortable. Do you participate in projects like those in our region? Yes, the Moravian-Silesian Region is in this view in the spotlight of ČEZ. Alongside the Power Plant Dětmarovice and Energocentre Vítkovice, the Regional Authority is in fact the very basis of the team of ČEZ ESCO, i.e. complex energy solutions. We employ over 700 people and contract a few companies in this field, including the leader on the Czech market of cogenerator units, ČEZ Energo,