Croatia

The Croatian Energy Market Operator (HROTE) has announced a much-anticipated, €257.2 million ($273.5 million) round of renewable energy auctions. It has allocated the biggest quota of 450 MW for solar projects and has set a deadline to award the subsidies by year’s end.

Slovakia’s Janom Investments has announced its first investment in Croatia through a 30 MW solar plant. CEO Andrej Sršeň says the company is now evaluating other projects in the country, with an estimated capacity of more than 200 MW.

The Renewable Energy Sources of Croatia says the country’s total installed solar capacity now stands at 462.5 MW. It says the country will come close to entering the “gigawatt club” by the start of 2025.

Zvonimir Meštrović, head of solar business development at Croatian energy company ENCRO, tells pv magazine that sunny days and an ideal political climate set the Balkan country up to harvest large volumes of solar. However, he says bureaucratic red tape is weighing down the industry.

The Croatian government has adopted bylaws to the Spatial Planning Act that define agrivoltaic installations and the areas in which they can be deployed, in order to facilitate future deployment.

Croatian high-performance EV component supplier and car manufacturer Rimac Technology has developed a novel battery architecture that is said to reduce efficiency losses by up to 50% while decreasing the system footprint by up to 40% compared to current state-of-the-art solutions.

The Croatian government has allocated €60 million ($65.6 million) in subsidies for businesses to install 80 MW of renewables and 20 MWh of batteries.

Croatia’s Viktor Lenac Shipyard aims to replace electric boilers and a water-to-water heat pump with a seawater heat pump, in order to provide heat and cooling for buildings. The pilot project is backed by EU funding and has launched a tender to support the construction of the seawater heat pump.

The European Commission has decided to refer three member states to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to turn the EU Renewable Energy Directive into national legislation. The commission is now requesting financial sanctions.

Croatia is preparing to build Eastern Europe’s largest energy storage project. IE Energy has secured €19.8 million ($20.9 million) to develop a 50 MW storage system, potentially extendable to 110 MW by 2024.