The double pressure of Covid-19 and the energy crisis meant Slovak economic growth slowed; GDP in 2022 was €109.6 billion, a growth of 1.1%. With population stable at 5.4 million, per-capita GDP was €20 200. The country’s strong automotive sector is deeply integrated with Germany’s and both face the challenge of adapting to new technologies.

 

General data		2022
Population	million	5.4
GDP	€ billion	109.6
Per capita GDP	€/person	20 200

The Slovak Republic’s total energy supply in 2022 was 23.8 million tonnes of coal equivalent. It has no significant exploitable fossil energy reserves beyond coal, although there is large potential for gas storage. Overall and thanks to nuclear power, the country had an energy import dependence of 52.5% in 2021, below the EU average. In recent years, there has been debate on the exploitation of a uranium deposit at Kurišková.

Slovak gross electricity production in 2022 was 26.8 TWh, with nuclear power having the largest share at 59.3%, followed by hydro at 13.3%. Fossil gas use for power generation was 7.8% in 2022. Hard coal, including coke oven gas, and lignite accounted for 7.7% of generation. Bioenergy (5.6%), solar PV (2.4%), oil (1.9%), waste (0.5%) and pumped hydro accounted for the balance.

At the end of 2022, the installed nuclear power generation capacity in Slovakia was 1 750 GW. In spring 2023, the third block of the Mochovce nuclear power station was commissioned, with generation starting at 25% of its 440 MW capacity before rising to 75% in July 2023.

Slovakia was a net importer of electricity in 2022, with 16.7 TWh mostly from Czechia and Poland. Exports were 15.3 TWh, mostly to Hungary and Ukraine. When Mochovce 3 reaches full output, Slovakia will become a net exporter of electricity and fossil fuels’ share of generation will fall below 10% (compared with 17.4% in 2022).

Two gas-fired power stations are in operation: the 350 MW Malženice CCGT commissioned in 2011 near the town of Trnava, 60 kilometres from Bratislava, and the 4 × 110 MW Vojany II or EVO II which was commissioned in 1973‑74 as an oil-fired boiler plant, but converted to gas soon after.

For the Vojany power plant and industrial applications, 2.9 million tonnes of hard coal were imported, mainly from Poland, Czechia, South Africa, Canada and Mozambique. The biggest consumer of coking coal and coke is U. S. STEEL KOŠICE.

Lignite

Slovakia’s lignite resources, estimated at just over one billion tonnes, include 44.5 million tonnes classified as mineable reserves which are exploited by HORNONITRIANSKE BANE PRIEVIDZA (HBP). The average net calorific value of these reserves is 9 000 kJ/kg. There is an insignificant hard coal deposit in eastern Slovakia which is not exploitable.

HBP is a private coal mining company with a history of over one hundred years. Seated in the town of Prievidza, HBP has extracted lignite at the Nováky deposit located in the Horná Nitra region in central Slovakia and at the Čary deposit located in western Slovakia. In the past, there were three independent collieries in operation in Horná Nitra – Cigeľ, Handlová and Nováky – which were integrated into HBP. The depth of the worked coal seams ranges from 150 metres to 450 metres.

In 2022, HBP produced 870 thousand tonnes of lignite and an additional 436 thousand tonnes were imported. In 2023, HBP planned to mine around 700 thousand tonnes of lignite. As the country is preparing to end coal production and use, several mines have already closed: Cigeľ in October 2017, Handlová in September 2021 and Čary in October 2022 after HBP’s BAŇA ČÁRY company suspended operations due to the complex geological condition found 180 metres undergound. The last remaining mine, Nováky, closed in December 2023.

The lignite seams have a thickness of up to 20 metres and are mostly extracted using a long-wall, top-coal caving (LTCC) method. Thin seams, of around 4 metres, are extracted with conventional longwalls. HBP also operates a mines rescue station, which serves all mining districts in Slovakia, and owns BANSKÁ MECHANIZÁCIA A ELEKTRIFIKÁCIA NOVÁKY (BME), a mining and construction equipment manufacturer.

In line with the Territorial Just Transition Plan for Slovakia, adopted by the European Commission in November 2022, HBP focuses on renewable energy projects, indoor and outdoor agricultural production, thermal and ground water resources management, and mining heritage. Projects include greenhouses heated by geothermal energy from warm mine waters and solar PV parks with battery storage on brownfield mine sites.

After the 486 MW Nováky lignite-fired heat and power plant (Elektráreň Nováky – ENO) closed in December 2023, a 98 MW_th district heating boiler and two small turbogenerators (28 MW_e + 18 MW_e) remain. The only other coal power plant comprises the remaining two 110 MW units at Elektráreň Vojany I (EVO I) in the southeast of the country. The plant was designed to fire Russian semi-anthracite coal, but has trialled alternative solid fuels. This necessary fuel switching would build on the operator’s experience with co‑firing wood chips since 2009. The Nováky and Vojany I plants are operated by SLOVENSKÉ ELEKTRÁRNE which is majority-owned by a 50:50 consortium of ENEL of Italy and EPH of Czechia, with the state holding a minority 34% share.

Slovakia

Coal production, reserves and resources		2022
Hard coal saleable output	Mt	–
Hard coal reserves	Mt	–
Hard coal total resources	Mt	19
Lignite saleable output	Mt	0.9
Lignite reserves	Mt	45
Lignite total resources	Mt	1 073

Saleable coal quality
Lignite net calorific value	kJ/kg	10 600
Lignite ash content	% a.r.	<25
Lignite moisture content	% a.r.	<35
Lignite sulphur content	% a.r.	<2.5

Coal imports / (exports)		2022
Hard coal	Mt	2.9 (0.0)
Lignite	Mt	0.4 (0.0)

Primary energy production		2022
Total primary energy production	Mtce	9.8
Lignite production	Mt / Mtce	0.9 / 0.3

Primary energy consumption		2022
Total primary energy supply	Mtce	23.8
Hard coal consumption	Mt / Mtce	2.9 / 2.9
Lignite consumption	Mt / Mtce	1.3 / 0.5

Power supply		2022
Total gross power generation	TWh	26.8
Net power imports (exports)	TWh	1.4
Total power supply	TWh	25.3
Power generation from hard coal	TWh	1.1
Power generation from lignite	TWh	1.0
Hard coal power generation capacity	MW net	220
Lignite power generation capacity	MW net	486

Employment		2022
Direct in lignite mining	number	1 251
Other lignite-related *	number	300

* e.g. in power generation, equipment supply, services and R&D