Renewables firm E4U wants Czechs to take a shine to solar heating

Small Czech investors are being encouraged to empty their piggy banks and saving accounts and pile into a company that sees a bright future in the little-used technology of solar heating plants.

Renewables power specialist Energy For You (E4U) is placing 49 percent of the company on the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP) in an Initial Placement of Shares (IPO), with its bosses saying that guaranteed dividend returns of 6-8 percent make it a surefire stable bet for small investors.

“There are a lot of renewable projects out there which do not have capital and many of these could turn to foreign capital, but we do not think it is right that so many Czech projects are financed by foreign capital,” E4U board member Aleš Jelínek said Thursday at a news conference. He described the IPO, set for August 25, as offering a “solid, long-term return.”

So far, E4U has developed and run two mid-sized solar power plants in the Czech Republic with the facilities coming on line producing power in 2008 and 2009 and now turning a profit. The firm’s horizons, though, are firmly focused on solar heating plants. These make use solar panels to heat water that is stored in large accumulation tanks, which are then used for heating in the winter.

So far, the technology is almost unknown in the Czech Republic but an operational project exists in Munich, Germany, providing about half the heating needed for around 300 flats throughout the year and another project in Graz, Austria, which covers around 45 percent of annual heating needs for a complex of flats.

“They did not build the very large accumulation tanks, so they were more limited,” explained the E4U board member charged with project development, Lukáš Květoun. “The technology is used in other parts of Europe, for example, in Denmark and Sweden,” he added.

Květoun, however, is at a loss to give examples of other quoted companies already drawing a steady cash-flow for their investors from solar heating plants. “Someone has to be first,” he quipped.

E4U expects to raise around Kč 100 million from the IPO. The cash will primarily be used to prepare the way for purchasing up-and-running renewable energy projects, with E4U expecting around 90 percent of its interest to be focused in the future on solar heating and 10 percent conventional solar and wind parks. Other share issues are expected as ready made projects come on line and need financing with the next approach to the market possible within 12-18 months, according to Květoun.

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