Slovakia's energy consumption
Slovakia's energy consumption is characterized by its reliance on nuclear power and a diverse mix of energy sources, despite being resource-poor and heavily dependent on imports. The country operates two nuclear power plants, Bohunice and Mochovce, which together account for about 60% of its electricity generation. Historically, Slovakia's energy landscape evolved from a reliance on local fuelwood and lignite coal to a more comprehensive system that includes thermal and hydropower stations. Significant developments in hydropower began in the late 19th century, with key plants established throughout the 20th century, including the major Gabcíkovo facility on the Danube River.
In terms of energy policy, Slovakia has pursued liberalization and privatization since the early 1990s, implementing regulations to enhance efficiency and reduce import dependency. The industrial sector is the largest consumer of energy, followed by residential and transport sectors, with residential energy use heavily focused on space heating due to inefficiencies in housing. As of 2022, Slovakia is increasingly integrating renewable energy sources into its generation mix, especially hydropower and biofuels, while coal mining for electricity generation was officially suspended in 2023. Overall, Slovakia's energy sector reflects a balance between traditional energy sources and progressive policies aimed at sustainability and efficiency.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Slovakia's energy consumption
Official Name: Slovak Republic.
Summary: Slovakia is a central European country with two nuclear power plants and numerous thermal and hydropower stations, yet it has a resource-poor and import-dependent energy sector.
Until the mid-twentieth century, Slovakia lacked significant energy-producing facilities, with locally supplied fuelwood and coal (mainly lignite, mined since the eighteenth century) providing the main sources of energy. The country’s first hydropower plant was commissioned in 1886 in the eastern town of Košice. Larger, mostly run-of-the-river plants were built in the 1930s, 1950s, and 1960s. Two pump storage plants were commissioned in the 1980s. The large plant Gabcíkovo, on the Danube River, was put into operation in 1992, despite having been planned as early as 1977. This delay was mainly due to a controversial cross-border environmental dispute with Hungary.
The country’s main coal-fired power plants were also built since 1950, with the largest among them—Elektrárne Vojany, located near the Ukrainian border so as to obtain its supplies from coal basins in the Soviet Union—being commissioned in several stages between 1953 and 1976. Desulfurization and denitrification equipment was installed in the coal plants during the 1990s in order to reduce emissions and comply with European Union (EU) regulations. Slovakia also contains two nuclear plants, Bohunice and Mochovce, whose current operational constituent units were commissioned, respectively, between 1984 and 1985 and between 1998 and 2000. Both stations utilize the Soviet VVER pressurized-water reactor design, albeit with Western safety upgrades. Together, Bohunice and Mochovce housed a total of five nuclear reactors in 2024. It is worth noting that Bochunice also contained several decommissioned reactors, the earliest of which entered service in 1972 but was shut down in 1977 after a serious incident. Two additional reactors at the same site were closed in 2006 and 2008 as a result of the country’s EU accession negotiations.
The country’s energy sector has been undergoing a process of unbundling, liberalization, and privatization since the early 1990s. The Energy Act, adopted in 2004, was an important early energy policy in the country. It set the terms and conditions for conducting business in the energy sector while regulating the energy market. The act also defined the roles and responsibilities of the country’s energy-related institutions. In the years that followed, Slovakia adopted a number of additional energy policies aimed at reducing dependence on energy imports, supporting the use of alternative fuels for transport, increasing efficiency in the power and end-use sectors, expanding the use of nuclear power, increasing the share of renewables in the heat and electricity sectors, and reducing energy intensity.
As of 2022, approximately 60 percent of Slovakia's total electricity generation was supplied by nuclear power, while the rest was supplied largely by a combination of hydropower, fossil fuels, biofuels, and solar power. As a result of Slovakia’s limited hydrocarbon resources, much of the country’s energy policy is focused on the increased use of renewable resources, particularly hydropower and biofuels. The largest energy consumer is the industrial sector, followed by the residential and transport sectors. The largest share of residential energy consumption is devoted to space heating, as a result of the poor energy efficiency of the housing stock. Electricity consumption per capita has declined slightly in the twenty-first century, falling to 4.661 megawatt hours in 2022.
Most of the country’s electricity is generated by the privately owned Slovenské elektrárne. The distribution of electricity is in the hands of regional utilities, while a state-owned operator manages the transmission of electricity. The privatized Nafta Gbely is the main producer of oil and natural gas in Slovakia; it also manages the storage of natural gas. Privately owned Transpetrol and Slovnaft operate, respectively, the country’s oil transport activities and its only oil refinery, while the state-owned Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel manages the import, transport, and distribution of natural gas, having unbundled its transmission and distribution activities in 2006. The mining of coal for electricity generation in Slovakia was officially suspended in 2023.
Bibliography
Austrian Energy Agency. Final Report: Development of a National Energy Efficiency Study for the Slovak Republic. Vienna: Austrian Energy Agency, 2002.
Bouzarovski, Stefan. “Entangled Boundaries, Scales and Trajectories of Change: Post-communist Energy Reforms in Critical Perspective.” European Urban and Regional Studies 17, no. 2 (2010).
Cullmann, Astrid, and Christian von Hirschhausen. “Efficiency Analysis of East European Electricity Distribution in Transition: Legacy of the Past?” Journal of Productivity Analysis 29, no. 2 (2008).
International Energy Agency. Slovak Republic: Energy Policy Review. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005.
Mojik, Ivan. “Assessment of Mitigation Options for Slovakia’s Energy Sector.” Applied Energy 56, nos. 3–4 (1997).
"Slovakia." CIA World Factbook, 30 July 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.
"Slovakia." International Energy Agency, 2024, www.iea.org/countries/slovak-republic. Accessed 7 Aug. 2024.