June 12, 2026
Stakeholders celebrating the plans to convert the plant. Image: CEZ Group.
The Czech Republic’s fourth pumped hydro energy storage plant is to be built within an existing hydropower complex, converting run-of-river generation to reversible units and creating 750MWh of energy storage capacity.
The work will be undertaken at the Orlík plant by energy conglomerate ČEZ Group, in partnership with engineering firm Wikov Group. The owner of the plant is the Vltava River Basin Company.
Engineers will modernise all four hydropower turbines at Orlík while keeping its power capacity at 364WMW. Two 95MW units will remain classic unidirectional turbines, also known as run-of-river hydro.
