No-fly zone above the gas storage facilities
Underground gas storage facilities (UGS) are a key part of the Czech Republic's energy infrastructure. Due to their strategic importance and potential risks, these facilities are protected not only by physical but also by air security measures - including no-fly zones.
What is a no-fly zone?
A no-fly zone, also known as a no-fly zone, is an area where it is forbidden to fly drones or other similar devices and other sports and hobby equipment. These zones are most often located in close proximity to airports, military installations and other critical infrastructure. What are no-fly zones good for? They are primarily designed to minimize the risk of collisions with aircraft or misuse of drones for espionage, terrorism and other malicious activities.
The Czech Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for the administration of no-fly zones. The no-fly zones can be found on aerial maps such as AisView and DronView. Here you can find, for example, restricted no-fly zones, where movement with drones is not completely prohibited, but it is necessary to follow specific rules, e.g. limited maximum flight height.
Types of no-fly zones.
- Prohibited area - airspace of defined dimensions over land or over the territorial waters of a State in which aircraft flights are prohibited. Indicated by the LKP code + number
- Restricted airspace - airspace of defined dimensions over the land or territorial waters of a State in which aircraft flights are restricted in accordance with specified conditions. It is designated by the code LKR + number.
- Hazardous airspace - airspace of defined dimensions within which activities hazardous to the flight of aircraft may take place at certain times. It is designated as LKD + number.
Zone designation
The management of MND Energy Storage and MND Gas Storage has decided to request the establishment of one common no-fly zone over both storage facilities. The establishment of a new no-fly zone over a particular facility (in this case, the Uhřice and Dambořice PPAs) takes place in two steps.
First, an application for the so-called airspace structure construction must be submitted to the Czech Air Traffic Control. The application for airspace construction together with the graphic design of the airspace was sent at the end of April this year and the Protocol on airspace construction was delivered to us in mid-May.
The next step was to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for the establishment of a no-fly zone. This application was accompanied by the aforementioned Airspace Design Protocol. The procedure for the establishment of the no-fly zone is still ongoing and we expect it to be completed by the end of August.
Why was the effort to establish a no-fly zone over the Uhřice and Dambořice PZPs initiated?
The reason for the request for a no-fly zone is the specifics of the operation of the underground gas storage facilities:
- Operation of technologies under very high gas pressure (up to 21 MPa).
- Natural gas venting during technological processes.
- Release of natural gas into the air in emergency situations.
- Possibility of explosive atmosphere over storage facilities and subsequent explosion and fire during operation or in emergency situations.
- Due to their strategic importance for the defence of the Czech Republic, both reservoirs were designated as a non-military object of national defence importance (NODOS) in January 2025.
- By 2026 at the latest, both companies will be designated as critical infrastructure elements according to the upcoming transposition of the European Directive No. 2022/2557 of 14 December 2022 Critical Entities Resilience (CER).
Security Manager MND ES
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