The Slovak Association of Sustainable Energy (SAPI) says Slovakia’s newly installed solar PV capacity in 2024 totaled over 274 MW, representing up to 98% of the total 280.16 MW of new electricity generation capacity the country reportedly added last year. The newly added PV capacity includes 113.6 MW of residential solar, 142.7 MW of PV installed by companies, and another 17.7 MW of large-scale solar in 2024. The overall PV capacity increased by close to 3% year-on-year (YoY) from 267 MW the country installed in 2023. SAPI’s Executive Director Ján Karaba attributes the increase in capacity to the fall in module prices and relatively high energy prices paid by companies for conventional electricity. He added, “The decline in the prices of this technology and the relatively easy installation triggered increased interest in solar energy last year, especially among companies.” This trend of businesses investing in solar energy for self-consumption is forecast to grow as they see the savings on the price of electricity and also on network fee. Karaba believes that the government must simplify support for further uptake of solar energy by companies for self-consumption. In the residential solar segment, there was a marked decline from the previous year when the country installed 138.49 MW capacity. SAPI believes this was due to the government delaying distribution of vouchers for its Green for Households program. These were made available only in August 2024 that impacted overall installations in this segmentInterest in battery energy storage system (BESS) also continues to grow. In 2023, SAPI reported 15.52 MW of new capacity addition in this segment, that grew to 20.35 MW in 2024. The interest is there among both residential as well as businesses for battery storage. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Slovakia’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity at the end of 2023 reached 631 MW. The addition of 274 MW in 2024 takes it beyond 900 MW.
