Jiří Kovář, the golfing entrepreneur from southern Moravia so munificently favoured by Václav Klaus and these days by ČEZ, is going green.


Wet biomass

Jiří Kovář, famous for his nuclear waste dump at Temelín (somewhat overpriced at EUR 60 million), has gone organic.

The firm he represents but claims not to own, Central Europe Engineering & Investment (CEEI), has recently become the local sales partner of AVA-CO2, a Swiss company that pioneered the industrial application of hydrothermal carbonisation technology (HTC), a process used to produce renewable energy by turning biomass, preferably wet biomass, into CO2-neutral biocoal.

As AVA-CO2 explains on its website here, “CEEI is a certified sales partner of AVA-CO2 and operates mainly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition to the planning of nuclear waste storage sites, CEEI also works in the area of renewable energy and the installation of AVA-CO2 plants for hydrothermal carbonisation.” In other words, CEEI's offering these days extends from nuclear all the way through to human waste.

Jiří Kovář was always an environmentalist, at least since 17th November 1989 that is. A week before the official start of the Velvet Revolution, the 25 year old law graduate is alleged to have joined the Communist Party. By Christmas, he had become an enthusiastic supporter of the revolution. He was nominated as a Civic Forum candidate for southern Moravia, and was elected to the federal parliament, where he was made chairman of the constitutional committee.

Over the next two years, Jiří Kovář became very close to ODS chairman Václav Klaus. This relationship continues to this day, according to his colleagues in ODS, who claim that in March 2004, the then president was the guest of honour at Kovář's 40th birthday celebrations in Hradčany, along with Martin Roman, appointed CEO of ČEZ a few days later, on April 1st 2004.

As faithful readers know, the true owners of CEEI remain a mystery. The firm’s only public footprint is a handful of nominee shareholders in Nicosia and a lawyer (yes, it is him!) with an office in Praha-Troja and a golf course in Slavkov u Brna.

AVA-CO2's statement, that CEEI works in the area of the installation of HTC plants, though formally correct, is stretching it a bit. But never mind. What counts is that the firm has the legal right to dispose of the technology belonging to those who do –work I mean.

And that is what matters to state-owned firms with a habit of inserting lawyers between themselves and the original supplier. After all, why buy direct if you can buy through a legal middleman, especially a middleman with whom you play golf?

So back to biomass. Jan Vyskočil, CEO of AVA-CO2 explains that "wherever larger quantities of biomass accumulate continuously, the HTC process can be used profitably by a large number of industries and applications."

I suppose this applies to the Czech Republic but I might be wrong. And if I am not wrong, and the HTC process can be used profitably in the Czech Republic, we might expect ČEZ to start acquiring HTC plants at some point soon. Perhaps the plants will first be built by off-shore investors exploiting state subsidy schemes, and then sold on to ČEZ using the highly profitable business model favoured by solar barons -highly profitable for the barons, less so for shareholders in ČEZ.

Take note. The last time CEEI acquired the right to offer specialised technology was in 2007, when it was granted an exclusive licence by WTI, the German planner and installer of nuclear waste storage facilities. Shortly thereafter, ČEZ called a tender in which the right to dispose of the said German know-how was a condition of success. And knock me down with a feather, CEEI succeeded! For the full details, click here.

Dear reader, do you not marvel at how CEEI knew in advance and possessed the legal title to dispose of the exact know-how that ČEZ required (but never used, sweet irony)?

The fact that CEEI has been appointed a certified sales partner for the installation of HTC plants in the region rather suggests that history is about to repeat itself. First it was nuclear waste, this time it is to be biomass. This is progress.