The Czech Republic is one of the fastest growing solar energy markets in the world and they installed 50.8 megawatts of solar power in 2008 which was a massive increase from only 3 megawatts in 2007.

Even taking that massive growth into consideration the Czech Republic solar market is still only a small fraction of the size of Spain's, with the Spanish market being more than 48 times bigger than the Czech Republic.

The Czech Government, like most EU countries are committed to reducing the carbon foot print and to that end the forecasts for solar power consumption are increasing year on year.

There are grants and incentives available to solar power consumers of this country and the main ruling is that a person who applies under any promotion must be someone who is subject to tax under the Law on Real Estate Tax (338/1992 Coll.) and the building that the solar system is to be installed in is over 15 years old.

There are other conditions for granting the subsidy with regard to the minimum expected profits. They are as follows –

A total of 1 500 kWh for installation in the family home
A total of 1 000 kWh per dwelling unit for installation on a residential house.

If these conditions are met there is a grant for family houses of 55 000 CZK for a solar heating system and 25 000 CZK for a solar heating system for an apartment.

More details can be found at http://www.zelenausporam.cz

The Czech Republic also has in place a feed-in tariff system which pays out the highest price in Europe as the goal is to achieve 8% of the countries electricity by the end of 2010. They are currently paying 12.79 Koruny for each Kilowatt of solar power.

The estimated length of time to recoup the initial investment made on a solar power system will vary depending if the grants and incentives are taken advantage of, but if they are the return on investment should be achieved in approximately 12 years.

The Czech government are aware of a similar situation that occurred in Spain which has resulted in a drastic down turn in the solar market there. The incentives were to high which resulted in companies coming to market just to take advantage of the incentives alone. The Czech government have taken precautions to ensure that they are not taken advantage of in the same manner.